[PATCH v9 01/12] x86/mm: setting fields in deferred pages

From: Pavel Tatashin
Date: Wed Sep 20 2017 - 16:19:45 EST


Without deferred struct page feature (CONFIG_DEFERRED_STRUCT_PAGE_INIT),
flags and other fields in "struct page"es are never changed prior to first
initializing struct pages by going through __init_single_page().

With deferred struct page feature enabled, however, we set fields in
register_page_bootmem_info that are subsequently clobbered right after in
free_all_bootmem:

mem_init() {
register_page_bootmem_info();
free_all_bootmem();
...
}

When register_page_bootmem_info() is called only non-deferred struct pages
are initialized. But, this function goes through some reserved pages which
might be part of the deferred, and thus are not yet initialized.

mem_init
register_page_bootmem_info
register_page_bootmem_info_node
get_page_bootmem
.. setting fields here ..
such as: page->freelist = (void *)type;

free_all_bootmem()
free_low_memory_core_early()
for_each_reserved_mem_region()
reserve_bootmem_region()
init_reserved_page() <- Only if this is deferred reserved page
__init_single_pfn()
__init_single_page()
memset(0) <-- Loose the set fields here

We end-up with issue where, currently we do not observe problem as memory
is explicitly zeroed. But, if flag asserts are changed we can start hitting
issues.

Also, because in this patch series we will stop zeroing struct page memory
during allocation, we must make sure that struct pages are properly
initialized prior to using them.

The deferred-reserved pages are initialized in free_all_bootmem().
Therefore, the fix is to switch the above calls.

Signed-off-by: Pavel Tatashin <pasha.tatashin@xxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Steven Sistare <steven.sistare@xxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Daniel Jordan <daniel.m.jordan@xxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Bob Picco <bob.picco@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/x86/mm/init_64.c | 9 +++++++--
1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/mm/init_64.c b/arch/x86/mm/init_64.c
index 5ea1c3c2636e..30fe22558720 100644
--- a/arch/x86/mm/init_64.c
+++ b/arch/x86/mm/init_64.c
@@ -1182,12 +1182,17 @@ void __init mem_init(void)

/* clear_bss() already clear the empty_zero_page */

- register_page_bootmem_info();
-
/* this will put all memory onto the freelists */
free_all_bootmem();
after_bootmem = 1;

+ /* Must be done after boot memory is put on freelist, because here we
+ * might set fields in deferred struct pages that have not yet been
+ * initialized, and free_all_bootmem() initializes all the reserved
+ * deferred pages for us.
+ */
+ register_page_bootmem_info();
+
/* Register memory areas for /proc/kcore */
kclist_add(&kcore_vsyscall, (void *)VSYSCALL_ADDR,
PAGE_SIZE, KCORE_OTHER);
--
2.14.1