Re: [PATCH] hung_task: Panic after fixed number of hung tasks
From: Lance Yang
Date: Fri Sep 26 2025 - 22:39:17 EST
On 2025/9/25 14:06, lirongqing wrote:
From: Li RongQing <lirongqing@xxxxxxxxx>
Currently, when hung_task_panic is enabled, kernel will panic immediately
upon detecting the first hung task. However, some hung tasks are transient
and the system can recover fully, while others are unrecoverable and
trigger consecutive hung task reports, and a panic is expected.
This commit adds a new sysctl parameter hung_task_count_to_panic to allows
specifying the number of consecutive hung tasks that must be detected
before triggering a kernel panic. This provides finer control for
environments where transient hangs maybe happen but persistent hangs should
still be fatal.
Signed-off-by: Li RongQing <lirongqing@xxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst | 6 ++++++
kernel/hung_task.c | 14 +++++++++++++-
2 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst
index 8b49eab..4240e7b 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst
@@ -405,6 +405,12 @@ This file shows up if ``CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK`` is enabled.
1 Panic immediately.
= =================================================
+hung_task_count_to_panic
+=====================
+
+When set to a non-zero value, after the number of consecutive hung task
+occur, the kernel will triggers a panic
Hmm... the documentation here seems a bit misleading.
hung_task_panic=1 will always cause an immediate panic, regardless of
the hung_task_count_to_panic setting, right?
Perhaps something like this would be more accurate?
```
hung_task_count_to_panic
========================
When set to a non-zero value, a kernel panic will be triggered if
the number of detected hung tasks reaches this value.
Note that setting hung_task_panic=1 will still cause an immediate
panic on the first hung task, overriding this setting.
```
hung_task_check_count
=====================
diff --git a/kernel/hung_task.c b/kernel/hung_task.c
index 8708a12..87a6421 100644
--- a/kernel/hung_task.c
+++ b/kernel/hung_task.c
@@ -83,6 +83,8 @@ static unsigned int __read_mostly sysctl_hung_task_all_cpu_backtrace;
static unsigned int __read_mostly sysctl_hung_task_panic =
IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_BOOTPARAM_HUNG_TASK_PANIC);
+static unsigned int __read_mostly sysctl_hung_task_count_to_panic;
Nit: while static variables are guaranteed to be zero-initialized, it's
a good practice and clearer for readers to initialize them explicitly.
static unsigned int __read_mostly sysctl_hung_task_count_to_panic = 0;
Otherwise, this patch looks good to me!
Acked-by: Lance Yang <lance.yang@xxxxxxxxx>
+
static int
hung_task_panic(struct notifier_block *this, unsigned long event, void *ptr)
{
@@ -219,7 +221,9 @@ static void check_hung_task(struct task_struct *t, unsigned long timeout)
trace_sched_process_hang(t);
- if (sysctl_hung_task_panic) {
+ if (sysctl_hung_task_panic ||
+ (sysctl_hung_task_count_to_panic &&
+ (sysctl_hung_task_detect_count >= sysctl_hung_task_count_to_panic))) {
console_verbose();
hung_task_show_lock = true;
hung_task_call_panic = true;
@@ -388,6 +392,14 @@ static const struct ctl_table hung_task_sysctls[] = {
.extra2 = SYSCTL_ONE,
},
{
+ .procname = "hung_task_count_to_panic",
+ .data = &sysctl_hung_task_count_to_panic,
+ .maxlen = sizeof(int),
+ .mode = 0644,
+ .proc_handler = proc_dointvec_minmax,
+ .extra1 = SYSCTL_ZERO,
+ },
+ {
.procname = "hung_task_check_count",
.data = &sysctl_hung_task_check_count,
.maxlen = sizeof(int),