[RFC PATCH 1/2] workqueue: Introduce PF_WQ_RESCUE_WORKER

[Aaron Tomlin]

The Linux kernel does not provide a way to differentiate between a
kworker and a rescue kworker for user-mode.
>From user-mode, one can establish if a task is a kworker by testing for
PF_WQ_WORKER in a specified task's flags bit mask (or bitmap) via
/proc/[PID]/stat. Indeed, one can examine /proc/[PID]/stack and search
for the function namely "rescuer_thread". This is only available to the
root user.

It can be useful to identify a rescue kworker since their CPU affinity
cannot be modified and their initial CPU assignment can be safely ignored.
Furthermore, a workqueue that was created with WQ_MEM_RECLAIM and
WQ_SYSFS the cpumask file is not applicable to the rescue kworker.
By design a rescue kworker should run anywhere.

This patch introduces PF_WQ_RESCUE_WORKER and ensures it is set and
cleared appropriately.

Signed-off-by: Aaron Tomlin <atomlin@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
 include/linux/sched.h |  2 +-
 kernel/workqueue.c    | 19 ++++++++++++-------
 2 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/sched.h b/include/linux/sched.h
index 609bde814cb0..039fcf8d9ed6 100644
--- a/include/linux/sched.h
+++ b/include/linux/sched.h
@@ -1734,7 +1734,7 @@ extern struct pid *cad_pid;
 #define PF_USED_MATH		0x00002000	/* If unset the fpu must be initialized before use */
 #define PF_USER_WORKER		0x00004000	/* Kernel thread cloned from userspace thread */
 #define PF_NOFREEZE		0x00008000	/* This thread should not be frozen */
-#define PF__HOLE__00010000	0x00010000
+#define PF_WQ_RESCUE_WORKER	0x00010000	/* I am a rescue workqueue worker */
 #define PF_KSWAPD		0x00020000	/* I am kswapd */
 #define PF_MEMALLOC_NOFS	0x00040000	/* All allocation requests will inherit GFP_NOFS */
 #define PF_MEMALLOC_NOIO	0x00080000	/* All allocation requests will inherit GFP_NOIO */
diff --git a/kernel/workqueue.c b/kernel/workqueue.c
index 02a8f402eeb5..6d38d714b72b 100644
--- a/kernel/workqueue.c
+++ b/kernel/workqueue.c
@@ -2665,13 +2665,18 @@ static void process_scheduled_works(struct worker *worker)
 	}
 }
 
-static void set_pf_worker(bool val)
+static void set_pf_worker_and_rescuer(bool worker, bool rescue)
 {
 	mutex_lock(&wq_pool_attach_mutex);
-	if (val)
+	if (worker) {
 		current->flags |= PF_WQ_WORKER;
-	else
+		if (rescue)
+			current->flags |= PF_WQ_RESCUE_WORKER;
+	} else {
 		current->flags &= ~PF_WQ_WORKER;
+		if (rescue)
+			current->flags &= ~PF_WQ_RESCUE_WORKER;
+	}
 	mutex_unlock(&wq_pool_attach_mutex);
 }
 
@@ -2693,14 +2698,14 @@ static int worker_thread(void *__worker)
 	struct worker_pool *pool = worker->pool;
 
 	/* tell the scheduler that this is a workqueue worker */
-	set_pf_worker(true);
+	set_pf_worker_and_rescuer(true, false);
 woke_up:
 	raw_spin_lock_irq(&pool->lock);
 
 	/* am I supposed to die? */
 	if (unlikely(worker->flags & WORKER_DIE)) {
 		raw_spin_unlock_irq(&pool->lock);
-		set_pf_worker(false);
+		set_pf_worker_and_rescuer(false, false);
 
 		set_task_comm(worker->task, "kworker/dying");
 		ida_free(&pool->worker_ida, worker->id);
@@ -2804,7 +2809,7 @@ static int rescuer_thread(void *__rescuer)
 	 * Mark rescuer as worker too.  As WORKER_PREP is never cleared, it
 	 * doesn't participate in concurrency management.
 	 */
-	set_pf_worker(true);
+	set_pf_worker_and_rescuer(true, true);
 repeat:
 	set_current_state(TASK_IDLE);
 
@@ -2903,7 +2908,7 @@ static int rescuer_thread(void *__rescuer)
 
 	if (should_stop) {
 		__set_current_state(TASK_RUNNING);
-		set_pf_worker(false);
+		set_pf_worker_and_rescuer(false, true);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-- 
2.39.1