Re: [PATCH v3 2/3] hvc_init(): Enforce one-time initialization.

From: Amit Shah
Date: Mon Dec 05 2011 - 05:55:24 EST


On (Tue) 29 Nov 2011 [09:50:41], Miche Baker-Harvey wrote:
> Good grief! Sorry for the spacing mess-up! Here's a resend with reformatting.
>
> Amit,
> We aren't using either QEMU or kvmtool, but we are using KVM. All

So it's a different userspace? Any chance this different userspace is
causing these problems to appear? Esp. since I couldn't reproduce
with qemu.

> the issues we are seeing happen when we try to establish multiple
> virtioconsoles at boot time. The command line isn't relevant, but I
> can tell you the protocol that's passing between the host (kvm) and
> the guest (see the end of this message).
>
> We do go through the control_work_handler(), but it's not
> providing synchronization. Here's a trace of the
> control_work_handler() and handle_control_message() calls; note that
> there are two concurrent calls to control_work_handler().

Ah; how does that happen? control_work_handler() should just be
invoked once, and if there are any more pending work items to be
consumed, they should be done within the loop inside
control_work_handler().

> I decorated control_work_handler() with a "lifetime" marker, and
> passed this value to handle_control_message(), so we can see which
> control messages are being handled from which instance of
> the control_work_handler() thread.
>
> Notice that we enter control_work_handler() a second time before
> the handling of the second PORT_ADD message is complete. The
> first CONSOLE_PORT message is handled by the second
> control_work_handler() call, but the second is handled by the first
> control_work_handler() call.
>
> root@myubuntu:~# dmesg | grep MBH
> [3371055.808738] control_work_handler #1
> [3371055.809372] + #1 handle_control_message PORT_ADD
> [3371055.810169] - handle_control_message PORT_ADD
> [3371055.810170] + #1 handle_control_message PORT_ADD
> [3371055.810244] control_work_handler #2
> [3371055.810245] + #2 handle_control_message CONSOLE_PORT
> [3371055.810246] got hvc_ports_mutex
> [3371055.810578] - handle_control_message PORT_ADD
> [3371055.810579] + #1 handle_control_message CONSOLE_PORT
> [3371055.810580] trylock of hvc_ports_mutex failed
> [3371055.811352] got hvc_ports_mutex
> [3371055.811370] - handle_control_message CONSOLE_PORT
> [3371055.816609] - handle_control_message CONSOLE_PORT
>
> So, I'm guessing the bug is that there shouldn't be two instances of
> control_work_handler() running simultaneously?

Yep, I assumed we did that but apparently not. Do you plan to chase
this one down?

Amit
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