Re: [PATCHv3] x86/mce: Fix regression. All error records should report via /dev/mcelog

From: Tony Luck
Date: Wed Feb 11 2015 - 13:11:07 EST


On Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 10:00 AM, Tony Luck <tony.luck@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I'm getting complaints from validation teams that have updated their
> Linux kernels from ancient versions to current. They don't see the
> error logs they expect. I tell the to unload any EDAC drivers[1], and
> things start working again. The problem is that we short-circuit
> the logging process if any function on the decoder chain claims to
> have dealt with the problem:
>
> ret = atomic_notifier_call_chain(&x86_mce_decoder_chain, 0, m);
> if (ret == NOTIFY_STOP)
> return;
>
> The logic we used when we added this code was that we did not want
> to confuse users with double reports of the same error.
>
> But it turns out users are not confused - they are upset that they
> don't see a log where their tools used to find a log.
>
> I could also get into a long description of how the consumer of this
> log does more than just decode model specific details of the error.
> It keeps counts, tracks thresholds, takes actions and runs scripts
> that can alert administrators to problems.
>
> [1] We've recently compounded the problem because the acpi_extlog
> driver also registers for this notifier and also returns NOTIFY_STOP.

So I see that this missed the x86/ras pull request to Linus. Will you be doing
another one this merge window? Or should I just send this direct to Linus?

-Tony
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/