[PATCH] alpha: Fix SMP shutdown hang due to missing memory barriers
From: Matt Turner
Date: Thu May 28 2026 - 19:14:59 EST
Alpha has a very weak memory model. halt() makes no guarantee that
pending stores have drained from the store buffer. If set_cpu_present()
stores are still buffered when a secondary CPU halts, they are lost,
and the boot CPU spins forever in the cpu_present_mask wait loop.
Add mb() before halt() on secondary CPUs to flush the store buffer,
and use smp_mb() in the boot CPU's poll loop instead of the
compiler-only barrier() to ensure it observes secondary CPUs' stores.
This avoids a deadlock on shutdown on EV7/Marvel platforms.
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-sonnet-4-6
Signed-off-by: Matt Turner <mattst88@xxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/alpha/kernel/process.c | 3 ++-
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git ./arch/alpha/kernel/process.c ./arch/alpha/kernel/process.c
index 06522451f018..d50f9cfd8333 100644
--- ./arch/alpha/kernel/process.c
+++ ./arch/alpha/kernel/process.c
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ common_shutdown_1(void *generic_ptr)
*pflags = flags;
set_cpu_present(cpuid, false);
set_cpu_possible(cpuid, false);
+ mb();
halt();
}
#endif
@@ -127,7 +128,7 @@ common_shutdown_1(void *generic_ptr)
set_cpu_present(boot_cpuid, false);
set_cpu_possible(boot_cpuid, false);
while (!cpumask_empty(cpu_present_mask))
- barrier();
+ smp_mb();
#endif
/* If booted from SRM, reset some of the original environment. */
--
2.53.0