Re: [PATCH v2] printk: avoid prb_first_valid_seq() where possible

[Petr Mladek]

On Thu 2021-02-11 18:37:52, John Ogness wrote:
> If message sizes average larger than expected (more than 32
> characters), the data_ring will wrap before the desc_ring. Once the
> data_ring wraps, it will start invalidating descriptors. These
> invalid descriptors hang around until they are eventually recycled
> when the desc_ring wraps. Readers do not care about invalid
> descriptors, but they still need to iterate past them. If the
> average message size is much larger than 32 characters, then there
> will be many invalid descriptors preceding the valid descriptors.
> 
> The function prb_first_valid_seq() always begins at the oldest
> descriptor and searches for the first valid descriptor. This can
> be rather expensive for the above scenario. And, in fact, because
> of its heavy usage in /dev/kmsg, there have been reports of long
> delays and even RCU stalls.
> 
> For code that does not need to search from the oldest record,
> replace prb_first_valid_seq() usage with prb_read_valid_*()
> functions, which provide a start sequence number to search from.
> 
> Fixes: 896fbe20b4e2333fb55 ("printk: use the lockless ringbuffer")
> Reported-by: kernel test robot <oliver.sang@xxxxxxxxx>
> Reported-by: J. Avila <elavila@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: John Ogness <john.ogness@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Reviewed-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@xxxxxxxx>

I am going to push the patch later today. I would prefer to do it
later and give a chance others to react. But the merge window
will likely start the following week and Sergey was fine
with this approach.

Best Regard,
Petr