[PATCH] printk: do cond_resched() between lines while outputting to consoles

From: Tejun Heo
Date: Tue Nov 24 2015 - 16:31:33 EST


@console_may_schedule tracks whether console_sem was acquired through
lock or trylock. If former, we're inside a sleepable context and
console_conditional_schedule() performs cond_resched(). This allows
console drivers which use console_lock for synchronization to yield
while performing time-consuming operations such as scrolling.

However, the actual console outputting is performed while holding
irq-safe logbuf_lock, so console_unlock() clears @console_may_schedule
before starting outputting lines. Also, only a few drivers call
console_conditional_schedule() to begin with. This means that when a
lot of lines need to be output by console_unlock(), for example on a
console registration, the task doing console_unlock() may not yield
for a long time on a non-preemptible kernel.

If this happens with a slow console devices, for example a serial
console, the outputting task may occupy the cpu for a very long time.
Long enough to trigger softlockup and/or RCU stall warnings, which in
turn pile more messages, sometimes enough to trigger the next cycle of
warnings incapacitating the system.

Fix it by making console_unlock() insert cond_resched() beween lines
if @console_may_schedule.

Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@xxxxxxxxxx>
Reported-by: Calvin Owens <calvinowens@xxxxxx>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Jan Kara <jack@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Dave Jones <davej@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Kyle McMartin <kyle@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
---
kernel/printk/printk.c | 16 +++++++++++++++-
1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

--- a/kernel/printk/printk.c
+++ b/kernel/printk/printk.c
@@ -2233,13 +2233,24 @@ void console_unlock(void)
static u64 seen_seq;
unsigned long flags;
bool wake_klogd = false;
- bool retry;
+ bool do_cond_resched, retry;

if (console_suspended) {
up_console_sem();
return;
}

+ /*
+ * Console drivers are called under logbuf_lock, so
+ * @console_may_schedule should be cleared before; however, we may
+ * end up dumping a lot of lines, for example, if called from
+ * console registration path, and should invoke cond_resched()
+ * between lines if allowable. Not doing so can cause a very long
+ * scheduling stall on a slow console leading to RCU stall and
+ * softlockup warnings which exacerbate the issue with more
+ * messages practically incapacitating the system.
+ */
+ do_cond_resched = console_may_schedule;
console_may_schedule = 0;

/* flush buffered message fragment immediately to console */
@@ -2311,6 +2322,9 @@ skip:
call_console_drivers(level, ext_text, ext_len, text, len);
start_critical_timings();
local_irq_restore(flags);
+
+ if (do_cond_resched)
+ cond_resched();
}
console_locked = 0;

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