Re: [PATCH 3/4] kgdb,clocksource: Prevent kernel hang in kerneldebugger

From: Thomas Gleixner
Date: Tue Jan 26 2010 - 06:17:16 EST


On Tue, 26 Jan 2010, Thomas Gleixner wrote:
> There is no sane way to reliably prevent TSC from becoming unstable
> when kgdb stops the kernel inside the watchdog code. And I do not care
> about that at all.
>
> I'm not going to clutter code with crazy workarounds just because some
> people believe that using a kernel debugger is a good idea. If people
> insist on using kgdb then the possible "TSC becomes unstable" side
> effect is the least of their problems.

Btw, if the kernel uses tick based timekeeping or a clock source which
wraps in rather short intervals (e.g. pm-timer wraps after ~4.6
seconds), stopping the kernel with kgdb will inevitably screw up time
keeping anyway.

So there is really no reason to worry about TSC becoming unstable.

There is only one real sensible solution for this:

Do _not_ use kgdb - which is the modus operandi of every sane kernel
developer on the planet.

Thanks,

tglx
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