Re: [PATCH] printk/tracing: Do not trace printk_nmi_enter()

From: Petr Mladek
Date: Fri Sep 07 2018 - 04:28:40 EST


On Fri 2018-09-07 09:45:31, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 06, 2018 at 11:31:51AM +0900, Sergey Senozhatsky wrote:
> > An alternative option, thus, could be re-instating back the rule that
> > lockdep_off/on should be the first and the last thing we do in
> > nmi_enter/nmi_exit. E.g.
> >
> > nmi_enter()
> > lockdep_off();
> > printk_nmi_enter();
> >
> > nmi_exit()
> > printk_nmi_exit();
> > lockdep_on();
>
> Yes that. Also, those should probably be inline functions.
>
> ---
> Subject: locking/lockdep: Fix NMI handling
>
> Someone put code in the NMI handler before lockdep_off(). Since lockdep
> is not NMI safe, this wrecks stuff.

My view is that nmi_enter() has to switch several features into
NMI-safe mode. The code must not trigger the other features when
they are still in the unsafe mode.

It is a chicken&egg problem. And it is hard to completely prevent
regressions caused by future changes.

I though that printk_nmi_enter() should never need any lockdep-related
code. On the other hand, people might want to printk debug messages
when lockdep_off() is called. This is why I put it in the current order.

That said, I am not against this change. Especially the inlining
is a good move. Note that lockdep_off()/lockdep_on() must not
be traced as well.

Best Regards,
Petr