Moving tty->stopped logic to ldisc (pty: fix data loss when stopped(^S/^Q))

From: Joe Peterson
Date: Tue Aug 11 2009 - 14:16:49 EST


[Please include my email address in replies]

Hi all,

This is in regard to the problem that the recent patch ("pty: fix data
loss when stopped (^S/^Q)") fixes. The issue is something I've been
looking at recently as well after noticing (I noticed it first as loss
of echoes, since I was re-testing what my echo buffer code originally
fixed).

Like mentioned in the other thread on this topic, the thought also
occurred to me that the "tty stopped" logic should be in the ldisc
rather in the driver code (console, pty, etc.). Also, upon digging
further into the issue, even though the fix applied does resume previous
behavior, there are some remaining issues that it does not address and
that have existed for a while:

1) If the tty->stopped state changes during a write (either regular or
echo output), the pty can end up throwing character away. This is a
small window of opportunity, but there nonetheless.

2) Since the N_TTY ldisc relies on a reliable amount of "write room"
during output operations (to both avoid similar loss of chars and to
ensure certain char groupings, like "^C", stay together atomically)
other calls to ttyp->ops->write outside the ldisc (e.g.
tty_write_message in tty_io.c or send_prio_char in tty_ioctl.c) that
happen in the middle of an ldisc write are problematic since they could
cause a reduction of write room without the knowledge of N_TTY.

I have attached a patch for comment which removes the checks for
tty->stopped from pty.c and vt.c (covering the pty and console cases)
and moves these checks to the ldisc (only N_TTY for now). I also use
the output lock (a finer-grained lock than the write lock that can be
used in both write and receive paths) to protect the write room in the
cases outside the ldisc state above. Ultimately, we'd want to either
make these locks only happen if ldisc=N_TTY or have all ldiscs use it, I
would think (comments?).

-Thanks, Joe
diff -Nurp a/drivers/char/n_tty.c b/drivers/char/n_tty.c
--- a/drivers/char/n_tty.c 2009-08-11 11:28:46.352996327 -0600
+++ b/drivers/char/n_tty.c 2009-08-11 11:30:05.152996397 -0600
@@ -366,6 +366,9 @@ static int process_output(unsigned char
{
int space, retval;

+ if (tty->stopped)
+ return -1;
+
mutex_lock(&tty->output_lock);

space = tty_write_room(tty);
@@ -404,6 +407,9 @@ static ssize_t process_output_block(stru
int i;
const unsigned char *cp;

+ if (tty->stopped)
+ return 0;
+
mutex_lock(&tty->output_lock);

space = tty_write_room(tty);
@@ -487,7 +493,7 @@ static void process_echoes(struct tty_st
unsigned char c;
unsigned char *cp, *buf_end;

- if (!tty->echo_cnt)
+ if (!tty->echo_cnt || tty->stopped)
return;

mutex_lock(&tty->output_lock);
@@ -1965,7 +1971,11 @@ static ssize_t n_tty_write(struct tty_st
tty->ops->flush_chars(tty);
} else {
while (nr > 0) {
+ if (tty->stopped)
+ break;
+ mutex_lock(&tty->output_lock);
c = tty->ops->write(tty, b, nr);
+ mutex_unlock(&tty->output_lock);
if (c < 0) {
retval = c;
goto break_out;
diff -Nurp a/drivers/char/pty.c b/drivers/char/pty.c
--- a/drivers/char/pty.c 2009-08-11 11:33:03.603031387 -0600
+++ b/drivers/char/pty.c 2009-08-11 11:33:15.702997374 -0600
@@ -115,9 +115,6 @@ static int pty_write(struct tty_struct *
struct tty_struct *to = tty->link;
int c;

- if (tty->stopped)
- return 0;
-
/* This isn't locked but our 8K is quite sloppy so no
big deal */

@@ -144,8 +141,6 @@ static int pty_write(struct tty_struct *

static int pty_write_room(struct tty_struct *tty)
{
- if (tty->stopped)
- return 0;
return pty_space(tty->link);
}

diff -Nurp a/drivers/char/tty_io.c b/drivers/char/tty_io.c
--- a/drivers/char/tty_io.c 2009-08-11 11:29:16.312996885 -0600
+++ b/drivers/char/tty_io.c 2009-08-11 11:30:05.242984105 -0600
@@ -1020,8 +1020,11 @@ void tty_write_message(struct tty_struct
lock_kernel();
if (tty) {
mutex_lock(&tty->atomic_write_lock);
- if (tty->ops->write && !test_bit(TTY_CLOSING, &tty->flags))
+ if (tty->ops->write && !test_bit(TTY_CLOSING, &tty->flags)) {
+ mutex_lock(&tty->output_lock);
tty->ops->write(tty, msg, strlen(msg));
+ mutex_unlock(&tty->output_lock);
+ }
tty_write_unlock(tty);
}
unlock_kernel();
diff -Nurp a/drivers/char/tty_ioctl.c b/drivers/char/tty_ioctl.c
--- a/drivers/char/tty_ioctl.c 2009-08-11 11:29:20.582997095 -0600
+++ b/drivers/char/tty_ioctl.c 2009-08-11 11:30:05.252996746 -0600
@@ -893,7 +893,9 @@ static int send_prio_char(struct tty_str

if (was_stopped)
start_tty(tty);
+ mutex_lock(&tty->output_lock);
tty->ops->write(tty, &ch, 1);
+ mutex_unlock(&tty->output_lock);
if (was_stopped)
stop_tty(tty);
tty_write_unlock(tty);
diff -Nurp a/drivers/char/vt.c b/drivers/char/vt.c
--- a/drivers/char/vt.c 2009-08-11 11:29:04.212996397 -0600
+++ b/drivers/char/vt.c 2009-08-11 11:30:05.202991508 -0600
@@ -2149,7 +2149,7 @@ static int do_con_write(struct tty_struc

param.vc = vc;

- while (!tty->stopped && count) {
+ while (count) {
int orig = *buf;
c = orig;
buf++;
@@ -2673,8 +2673,6 @@ static int con_put_char(struct tty_struc

static int con_write_room(struct tty_struct *tty)
{
- if (tty->stopped)
- return 0;
return 32768; /* No limit, really; we're not buffering */
}