Re: [PATCH] fix race in AF_UNIX

From: Miklos Szeredi
Date: Mon Jun 18 2007 - 06:40:10 EST


> * Miklos Szeredi <miklos@xxxxxxxxxx> 2007-06-18 11:44
> > Garbage collection only ever happens, if the app is sending AF_UNIX
> > sockets over AF_UNIX sockets. Which is a rather rare case. And which
> > is basically why this bug went unnoticed for so long.
> >
> > So my second patch only affects the performance of _exactly_ those
> > apps which might well be bitten by the bug itself.
>
> That's not entirely the truth. It affects all applications using
> AF_UNIX sockets while file descriptors are being transfered. I
> agree that the performance impact is not severe on most systems
> but if file descriptors are being transfered continously by just
> a single application it can become rather severe.

You are wrong. Look in unix_release_sock():

if (atomic_read(&unix_tot_inflight))
unix_gc(); /* Garbage collect fds */


unix_tot_inflight is the number of AF_UNIX sockets currently being
transferred over some AF_UNIX sockets.

That means that just sending (non-unix socket) fds over unix sockets
will never invoke the gc.

Miklos
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