[PATCH] x86/process: fix the misleading comment about PF_USER_WORKERs in copy_thread()
From: Oleg Nesterov
Date: Wed Aug 20 2025 - 12:48:36 EST
The comment says "doesn't return to ret_after_fork()" but in fact it should
say "doesn't return from ret_from_fork()".
Plus the comment lacks some important details, and even "user space thread"
doesn't look accurate, if nothing else this doesn't match the comment about
PF_USER_WORKER in include/linux/sched.h.
Signed-off-by: Oleg Nesterov <oleg@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/x86/kernel/process.c | 12 +++++++++---
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/process.c b/arch/x86/kernel/process.c
index e932e0e53972..cc4fe540d952 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/process.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/process.c
@@ -237,14 +237,20 @@ int copy_thread(struct task_struct *p, const struct kernel_clone_args *args)
if (unlikely(args->fn)) {
/*
- * A user space thread, but it doesn't return to
- * ret_after_fork().
+ * A non-PF_KTHREAD thread, but it doesn't return from
+ * ret_from_fork().
+ *
+ * Either a PF_USER_WORKER kernel thread, in this case
+ * arg->fn() must not return.
+ * Or a user space task created by user_mode_thread(), in
+ * this case arg->fn() can only return after a successful
+ * kernel_execve().
*
* In order to indicate that to tools like gdb,
* we reset the stack and instruction pointers.
*
* It does the same kernel frame setup to return to a kernel
- * function that a kernel thread does.
+ * function that a PF_KTHREAD thread does.
*/
childregs->sp = 0;
childregs->ip = 0;
--
2.25.1.362.g51ebf55