Re: seq_file and exporting dynamically allocated data

[Tigran Aivazian]

On Sat, 15 Nov 2003 viro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > The thing to be aware of is that seq API is limited to 1 page of data per
> > read(2) call. Some people loudly proclaim "seq API is unlimited, unlike
> > the old /proc formalism which was limited to 1 page" but they are 
> > quiet about 1-page limitation for a single read(2) (due to hardcoded
> > kmalloc(size) in seq_file.c). Why is this important? Because if your
> 
> What?  It will happily return more than 1 page if you get an entry longer
> than that.
> 
> What hardcoded kmalloc(size)?
> 

in fs/seq_file.c:seq_read()

        if (!m->buf) {
                m->buf = kmalloc(m->size = PAGE_SIZE, GFP_KERNEL);


> > ->start/stop routines take/drop some spinlocks then you have to know your
> > position and re-verify it on the next read(2) if your data is more than 1
> > page and thus could not be read atomically (i.e. while holding the
> > spinlocks).
> 
> If you mean that read(2) can decide to return less than full user buffer even
> though more data is available - tough, that's something userland *must* be
> able to deal with.

are you saying that it is possible for userspace to request, say, 256K and 
say 250K of available data could be returned (with seq_file API) on a 
single read(2) call? I thought this is impossible and hence in the 
->show() routine I do this (similar to seq_printf()):

        struct task_struct *p = (struct task_struct *)v;
        struct proc *proc = (struct proc *)m->private;

	pack some data from task_struct into 'proc' ...

        if (m->count + PROCLEN < m->size) {
                memcpy(m->buf + m->count, proc, PROCLEN);
                m->count += PROCLEN;
                return 0;
        } else {
                m->count = m->size;
                return -1;
        }

So, as soon as ->show() is asked to display an element which didn't fit in
the m->buf page it returns -1 and so the user gets a page (or almost a
page, i.e.  as many entries as fit in there).

If you know of a way to return more than a page of data in one go, please 
do tell me.

But if such way existed then why in mm/slab.c:s_start() does exactly what 
I described, i.e. walks the list to the offset '*pos' saved from previous 
page?

Kind regards
Tigran

> 
> Especially on syntetic and potentially large files - the only alternative
> would be immediate DoS on OOM.  Regardless of the implementation.
> 


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