Re: [PATCH] softlockup: fix problem with long kernel pauses fromkgdb

From: Ingo Molnar
Date: Tue Aug 04 2009 - 10:16:40 EST



* Jason Wessel <jason.wessel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> > On Mon, 2009-07-27 at 15:03 -0500, Jason Wessel wrote:
> >> The fix is to simply invoke sched_clock_tick() to update "cpu sched
> >> clock" on exit from kgdb_handle_exception.
> >
> > Is that a regular IRQ context, or is that NMI context?
> >
> >> Signed-off-by: Dongdong Deng <Dongdong.Deng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >> Signed-off-by: Jason Wessel <jason.wessel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >> Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxx>
> >> Cc: peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >> ---
> >> kernel/softlockup.c | 3 +++
> >> 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
> >>
> >> --- a/kernel/softlockup.c
> >> +++ b/kernel/softlockup.c
> >> @@ -118,6 +118,9 @@ void softlockup_tick(void)
> >> }
> >>
> >> if (touch_timestamp == 0) {
> >> + /* If the time stamp was touched externally make sure the
> >> + * scheduler tick is up to date as well */
> >> + sched_clock_tick();
> >> __touch_softlockup_watchdog();
> >> return;
> >> }
> >>
> >
> > Aside from the funny comment style (please fix) the fix does look
> > sensible.
>
> It turns out that further testing of this patch shows a regression in
> the ability to detect certain lockups. It is a direct result of the
> way the scheduling code makes use of the touch_softlockup_watchdog().
> With the above proposed patch the tick was getting updated after a
> resume, but was also getting updated with the run_timers(), and if
> that happened before the softlockup tick, no softlockup would get
> reported (note that I was using some test code to induce softlockups).
>
> The patch below is a bit more invasive but solves the problem by
> allowing kgdb to request that the sched cpu clock is updated only when
> returning from a state where we know we need to force the update.
>
> Would this change be an acceptable solution to allow kgdb to
> peacefully exist with the softlockup code?
>
> Thanks,
> Jason.
>
>
> -----
> From: Jason Wessel <jason.wessel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [PATCH] softlockup: add sched_clock_tick() to avoid kernel warning on kgdb resume
>
> When CONFIG_HAVE_UNSTABLE_SCHED_CLOCK is set sched_clock() gets the
> time from hardware, such as from TSC. In this configuration kgdb will
> report a softlock warning messages on resuming or detaching from a
> debug session.
>
> Sequence of events in the problem case:
>
> 1) "cpu sched clock" and "hardware time" are at 100 sec prior
> to a call to kgdb_handle_exception()
>
> 2) Debugger waits in kgdb_handle_exception() for 80 sec and on exit
> the following is called ... touch_softlockup_watchdog() -->
> __raw_get_cpu_var(touch_timestamp) = 0;
>
> 3) "cpu sched clock" = 100s (it was not updated, because the interrupt
> was disabled in kgdb) but the "hardware time" = 180 sec
>
> 4) The first timer interrupt after resuming from kgdb_handle_exception
> updates the watchdog from the "cpu sched clock"
>
> update_process_times() { ... run_local_timers() --> softlockup_tick()
> --> check (touch_timestamp == 0) (it is "YES" here, we have set
> "touch_timestamp = 0" at kgdb) --> __touch_softlockup_watchdog()
> ***(A)--> reset "touch_timestamp" to "get_timestamp()" (Here, the
> "touch_timestamp" will still be set to 100s.) ...
>
> scheduler_tick() ***(B)--> sched_clock_tick() (update "cpu sched
> clock" to "hardware time" = 180s) ... }
>
> 5) The Second timer interrupt handler appears to have a large jump and
> trips the softlockup warning.
>
> update_process_times() { ... run_local_timers() --> softlockup_tick()
> --> "cpu sched clock" - "touch_timestamp" = 180s-100s > 60s --> printk
> "soft lockup error messages" ... }
>
> note: ***(A) reset "touch_timestamp" to "get_timestamp(this_cpu)"
>
> Why "touch_timestamp" is 100 sec, instead of 180 sec?
>
> With the CONFIG_HAVE_UNSTABLE_SCHED_CLOCK" set the call trace of
> get_timestamp() is:
>
> get_timestamp(this_cpu) -->cpu_clock(this_cpu)
> -->sched_clock_cpu(this_cpu) -->__update_sched_clock(sched_clock_data,
> now)
>
> The __update_sched_clock() function uses the GTOD tick value to create
> a window to normalize the "now" values. So if "now" values is too big
> for sched_clock_data, it will be ignored.
>
> The fix is to invoke sched_clock_tick() to update "cpu sched clock" in
> order to recover from this state. This is done by introducing the
> function touch_softlockup_watchdog_sync(), which allows kgdb to
> request that the sched clock is updated when the watchdog thread runs
> the first time after a resume from kgdb.
>
> Signed-off-by: Jason Wessel <jason.wessel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: Dongdong Deng <Dongdong.Deng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxx>
> Cc: peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> ---
> include/linux/sched.h | 4 ++++
> kernel/kgdb.c | 6 +++---
> kernel/softlockup.c | 16 ++++++++++++++++
> 3 files changed, 23 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
>
> --- a/kernel/softlockup.c
> +++ b/kernel/softlockup.c
> @@ -79,6 +79,14 @@ void touch_softlockup_watchdog(void)
> }
> EXPORT_SYMBOL(touch_softlockup_watchdog);
>
> +static int softlock_touch_sync[NR_CPUS];
> +
> +void touch_softlockup_watchdog_sync(void)
> +{
> + softlock_touch_sync[raw_smp_processor_id()] = 1;
> + __raw_get_cpu_var(touch_timestamp) = 0;
> +}
> +
> void touch_all_softlockup_watchdogs(void)
> {
> int cpu;
> @@ -118,6 +126,14 @@ void softlockup_tick(void)
> }
>
> if (touch_timestamp == 0) {
> + if (unlikely(softlock_touch_sync[this_cpu])) {
> + /*
> + * If the time stamp was touched atomically
> + * make sure the scheduler tick is up to date.
> + */
> + softlock_touch_sync[this_cpu] = 0;
> + sched_clock_tick();
> + }

Hm, this looks quite ugly. Peter, Thomas, can you think of a cleaner
solution?

Ingo
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