Re: [PATCH] tracing: (backport) Replace kmap with copy_from_user() in trace_marker

From: Greg KH
Date: Fri Dec 09 2016 - 02:22:04 EST


On Fri, Dec 09, 2016 at 07:34:04AM +0100, Henrik Austad wrote:
> Instead of using get_user_pages_fast() and kmap_atomic() when writing
> to the trace_marker file, just allocate enough space on the ring buffer
> directly, and write into it via copy_from_user().
>
> Writing into the trace_marker file use to allocate a temporary buffer
> to perform the copy_from_user(), as we didn't want to write into the
> ring buffer if the copy failed. But as a trace_marker write is suppose
> to be extremely fast, and allocating memory causes other tracepoints to
> trigger, Peter Zijlstra suggested using get_user_pages_fast() and
> kmap_atomic() to keep the user space pages in memory and reading it
> directly.
>
> Instead, just allocate the space in the ring buffer and use
> copy_from_user() directly. If it faults, return -EFAULT and write
> "<faulted>" into the ring buffer.
>
> On architectures without a arch-specific get_user_pages_fast(), this
> will end up in the generic get_user_pages_fast() and this grabs
> mm->mmap_sem. Once you do this, then suddenly writing to the
> trace_marker can cause priority-inversions.
>
> This is a backport of Steven Rostedts patch [1] and applied to 3.10.x so the
> signed-off-chain by is somewhat uncertain at this stage.
>
> The patch compiles, boots and does not immediately explode on impact. By
> definition [2] it must therefore be perfect
>
> 2) https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg2400769.html
> 2) http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9804.1/0149.html
>
> Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Henrik Austad <henrik@xxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Suggested-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Used-to-be-signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Backported-by: Henrik Austad <haustad@xxxxxxxxx>
> Tested-by: Henrik Austad <haustad@xxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: Henrik Austad <haustad@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> kernel/trace/trace.c | 78 +++++++++++++++-------------------------------------
> 1 file changed, 22 insertions(+), 56 deletions(-)

What is the git commit id of this patch in Linus's tree? And what
stable trees do you feel it should be applied to?

thanks,

greg k-h