Re: [PATCH v5 -next 1/2]efivars: Disable external interrupt whileholding efivars->lock

[Matt Fleming]

On Thu, 2013-01-24 at 00:41 +0000, Seiji Aguchi wrote:
> [Problem]
> There is a scenario which efi_pstore fails to log messages in a panic case.
> 
>  - CPUA holds an efi_var->lock in either efivarfs parts 
>    or efi_pstore with interrupt enabled.
>  - CPUB panics and sends IPI to CPUA in smp_send_stop().
>  - CPUA stops with holding the lock.
>  - CPUB kicks efi_pstore_write() via kmsg_dump(KSMG_DUMP_PANIC)
>    but it returns without logging messages.
> 
> [Patch Description]
> This patch disables an external interruption while holding efivars->lock 
> as follows.
> 
> In efi_pstore_write() and get_var_data(), spin_lock/spin_unlock is 
> replaced by spin_lock_irqsave/spin_unlock_irqrestore because they may 
> be called in an interrupt context.
> 
> In other functions, they are replaced by spin_lock_irq/spin_unlock_irq.
> because they are all called from a process context.
> 
> By applying this patch, we can avoid the problem above with 
> a following senario.
> 
>  - CPUA holds an efi_var->lock with interrupt disabled.
>  - CPUB panics and sends IPI to CPUA in smp_send_stop().
>  - CPUA receives the IPI after releasing the lock because it is
>    disabling interrupt while holding the lock.
>  - CPUB waits for one sec until CPUA releases the lock.
>  - CPUB kicks efi_pstore_write() via kmsg_dump(KSMG_DUMP_PANIC)
>    And it can hold the lock successfully.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Seiji Aguchi <seiji.aguchi@xxxxxxx>
> Acked-by: Mike Waychison <mikew@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  drivers/firmware/efivars.c |   86 ++++++++++++++++++++++---------------------
>  1 files changed, 44 insertions(+), 42 deletions(-)

Acked-by: Matt Fleming <matt.fleming@xxxxxxxxx>

Tony, are you picking this up?

-- 
Matt Fleming, Intel Open Source Technology Center

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