Re: [PATCH v6 2/2] printk: Make printing of spin_dump() deferred to avoid a deadlock

[Byungchul Park]

On Mon, Mar 14, 2016 at 11:40:55AM +0900, Sergey Senozhatsky wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On (03/14/16 11:30), Byungchul Park wrote:
> [..]
> > > so can it be
> > > 
> > > vprintk_emit()
> > >  __spin_dump_deferred()
> > >   vprintk_deferred()
> > >    vprintk_emit()
> > >     __spin_dump_deferred()
> >       ^^^
> >       can be caused by raw_spin_lock(logbug_lock)
> > 
> > >      vprintk_deferred()
> > 
> > Yes, it can happen by raw_spin_lock(logbuf_lock) to print warning or error
> > message. Are you worrying about an infinite recursion?
> 
> yes.
> 
> > 1. In the case printing warning, eventually it can fill the buffer without
> > actual printing using console.
> 
> so the worry is that the CPU that spins on __spin_dump_deferred() has IRQs
> disabled and `printk_pending' bit set; but IRQ may never be enabled on this
> CPU.

It's true if another cpu never release the logbug_lock. But it's another
problem which current code already has and must be solved by another way.
IOW, the situation where the logbug_lock is not held yet is not the case
where we need to worry about whether the "IRQ work queue" works or not.

> 
> > 2. In the case printing error, the infinite recursion can be prevented by
> > debug_locks_off().
> > 
> > Therefore, no problem.
> 
> 	-ss