Re: [PATCH net v2] bonding: fix initial last_rx vs ARP-monitor slack window

[Hangbin Liu]

On Thu, Aug 27, 2026 at 01:44:42PM +0200, Ramses de Norre via B4 Relay wrote:
> From: Ramses de Norre <ramses@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> Commit f31c7937c254 ("bonding: start slaves with link down for ARP
> monitor") initialises a freshly enslaved port's last_rx to
> jiffies - (arp_interval + 1) so that it does not "immediately cause
> fake detection of 'up' state". At the time, the comparison was a plain
> <= arp_interval and the value was just stale enough.
> 
> Commit da210f559019 ("bonding: add some slack to arp monitoring time
> limits"), four months later, added a +arp_interval/2 slack term to
> every comparison (now bond_time_in_interval()) but did not widen the
> init to match. Since then, bond_time_in_interval(bond, last_rx, 1) is
> true for the first ~arp_interval/2 after enslavement even though no
> packet has been received: the upper bound is last_rx + 1.5*delta and
> last_rx was set to jiffies - delta - 1.
> 
> If the ARP monitor tick lands in that window, bond_ab_arp_inspect()
> proposes the slave UP. If the slave is the configured primary,
> bond_ab_arp_commit() sets do_failover and the still-armed
> force_primary in bond_choose_primary_or_current() makes it the active
> slave regardless of primary_reselect. ARP validation as the active
> slave then fails (the link has not actually received anything; on
> SFP+ ports the PHY is often still negotiating) and the bond falls back
> to the backup. With primary_reselect=failure, force_primary has now
> been spent and the bond stays on the backup until something else
> triggers a reselect.

Can we set primary_reselect to always or better to avoid this? If you prefer
to using the primary slave.

> 
> Reproducer:
> 
>   ip link add bond0 type bond mode active-backup arp_interval 1000 \
>       arp_validate all arp_ip_target 192.0.2.1 \
>       primary eth0 primary_reselect failure
>   # eth0: SFP+ (slow link-up), eth1: RJ45 (fast link-up)
>   ip link set eth0 master bond0
>   ip link set eth1 master bond0
>   ip link set bond0 up
>   # bond0 lands on eth0 via force_primary, ARP-fails it before the
>   # SFP+ has carrier, falls to eth1, and stays there.
> 
> Initialise last_rx (and the per-target array, and last_tx) to two full
> intervals in the past so it is outside the slack window from the
> start.

Is this trying to init the backup slave down by default?

Thanks
Hangbin