Re: preempt bug in set_pmd_pfn?

From: Hugh Dickins
Date: Wed Mar 05 2008 - 12:39:43 EST


On Wed, 5 Mar 2008, Jeremy Fitzhardinge wrote:
>
> If a thread goes from processor A -> B -> A, where A is first preempted
> between a pagetable update and a tlb flush, then the second time the thread
> runs on A may run with a stale tlb (if in the meantime A has either been idle
> or only running kernel threads).

Right, thanks, because __flush_tlb_one opts out of the full active_mm
checking which goes on for userspace mms (which covers, for example,
the case of preemption before dup_mmap's flush_tlb_mm).

But is there actually a case where there's a problem? So far as I can see,
set_pmd_pfn is there solely for discontig_32's __init remap_numa_kva; and
set_pte_pfn is there solely for set_fixmap, which operates on a per-cpu
area of pagetable, which would already be in bigger trouble if preemption
to another cpu were possible.

Hugh
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