Re: [v2 PATCH] mm: introduce arg_lock to protect arg_start|end and env_start|end in mm_struct

From: Michal Hocko
Date: Wed Mar 28 2018 - 09:10:49 EST


On Tue 27-03-18 21:52:17, Cyrill Gorcunov wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 02:38:11PM -0400, Yang Shi wrote:
> > > Why do we need to hold mmap_sem here and call find_vma, when only
> > > PR_SET_MM_ENV_END: is consuming it? I guess we can replace it wit the
> > > new lock and take the mmap_sem only for PR_SET_MM_ENV_END.
> >
> > Actually, I didn't think of why. It looks prctl_set_mm() checks if vma does
> > exist when it tries to set stack_start, argv_* and env_*, btw not only
> > env_end.
> >
> > Cyrill may be able to give us some hint since C/R is the main user of this
> > API.
>
> First and most important it makes code smaller. This prctl call is really
> rarely used. Of course we can optimize it, but as I said I would prefer
> to simply deprecate this old interface (and I gonne to do so once time
> permit).

Ohh, it would be really great if we can remove this thingy altogether. I
cannot say it has a wee bit of my sympathy.

--
Michal Hocko
SUSE Labs