Re: [Bug #12491] i915 lockdep warning

From: Roland Dreier
Date: Wed Feb 04 2009 - 17:37:51 EST


> Bug-Entry : http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12491
> Subject : i915 lockdep warning
> Submitter : Brandeburg, Jesse <jesse.brandeburg@xxxxxxxxx>
> Date : 2009-01-13 23:17 (23 days old)
> References : http://marc.info/?l=linux-kernel&m=123188898423532&w=4

Looking at the code, it seems that the issue is that the DRM
struct_mutex must be taken inside mmap_sem (because struct_mutex is
taken in drm_vm_open(), which is called with mmap_sem already held), but
i915_gem_execbuffer() does a copy_to_user() while holding struct_mutex,
and if this copy faults, then the VM tries to acquire mmap_sem -- ie
lockdep identifies correctly a potential AB/BA deadlock.

I don't pretend to fully understand the DRM or GEM, but a possible fix
is below -- would be worth it to test and review, and get into 2.6.29 if
it is a correct fix:

---
i915: Fix potential AB-BA deadlock in i915_gem_execbuffer()

Lockdep warns that i915_gem_execbuffer() can trigger a page fault (which
takes mmap_sem) while holding dev->struct_mutex, while drm_vm_open()
(which is called with mmap_sem already held) takes dev->struct_mutex.
So this is a potential AB-BA deadlock.

The way that i915_gem_execbuffer() triggers a page fault is by doing
copy_to_user() when returning new buffer offsets back to userspace;
however there is no reason to hold the struct_mutex when doing this
copy, since what is being copied is a private array anyway. So we can
fix the potential deadlock (and get rid of the lockdep warning) by
simply moving the copy_to_user() outside of where struct_mutex is held.

This fixes <http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12491>.

Reported-by: Jesse Brandeburg <jesse.brandeburg@xxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Roland Dreier <rolandd@xxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem.c | 21 ++++++++++++---------
1 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem.c
index debad5c..23aad8c 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem.c
@@ -2610,15 +2610,6 @@ i915_gem_execbuffer(struct drm_device *dev, void *data,

i915_verify_inactive(dev, __FILE__, __LINE__);

- /* Copy the new buffer offsets back to the user's exec list. */
- ret = copy_to_user((struct drm_i915_relocation_entry __user *)
- (uintptr_t) args->buffers_ptr,
- exec_list,
- sizeof(*exec_list) * args->buffer_count);
- if (ret)
- DRM_ERROR("failed to copy %d exec entries "
- "back to user (%d)\n",
- args->buffer_count, ret);
err:
for (i = 0; i < pinned; i++)
i915_gem_object_unpin(object_list[i]);
@@ -2628,6 +2619,18 @@ err:

mutex_unlock(&dev->struct_mutex);

+ if (!ret) {
+ /* Copy the new buffer offsets back to the user's exec list. */
+ ret = copy_to_user((struct drm_i915_relocation_entry __user *)
+ (uintptr_t) args->buffers_ptr,
+ exec_list,
+ sizeof(*exec_list) * args->buffer_count);
+ if (ret)
+ DRM_ERROR("failed to copy %d exec entries "
+ "back to user (%d)\n",
+ args->buffer_count, ret);
+ }
+
pre_mutex_err:
drm_free(object_list, sizeof(*object_list) * args->buffer_count,
DRM_MEM_DRIVER);
--
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