Re: [PATCH] mm/rmap: remove unnecessary page_table_lock

[David Hildenbrand]

On 23.04.24 09:53, Yajun Deng wrote:
> April 22, 2024 at 7:24 PM, "David Hildenbrand" <david@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On 22.04.24 12:52, Yajun Deng wrote:
> >
> > > page_table_lock is a lock that for page table, we won't change page
> > >
> > >   table in __anon_vma_prepare(). As we can see, it works well in
> > >
> > >   anon_vma_clone(). They do the same operation.
> >
> > We are reusing mm->page_table_lock to serialize, not the *actual* low-level page table locks that really protect PTEs.
> >
> > With that locking gone, there would be nothing protection vma->anon_vma.
> >
> > Note that anon_vma_clone() is likely called with the mmap_lock held in write mode, which is not the case for __anon_vma_prepare() ...
>
> Yes, anon_vma_clone() is called with the mmap_lock held. I added mmap_assert_write_locked(dst->vm_mm) to prove it.
> I added mmap_assert_write_locked(vma->vm_mm) in __anon_vma_prepare() at the same time, it shows __anon_vma_prepare()
> is also called with the mmap_lock held too.

Make sure you actually have lockdep built in and enabled.

__anon_vma_prepare() is for example called from do_anonymous_page() 
where we might only hold the mmap_lock in read mode (or not at all IIRC 
with VMA in read mode).

--
Cheers,

David / dhildenb