Re: linux-next crash during very early boot

From: Valdis . Kletnieks
Date: Fri Apr 15 2016 - 10:10:45 EST


On Thu, 14 Apr 2016 10:35:47 +0900, Joonsoo Kim said:
> On Wed, Apr 13, 2016 at 08:29:46PM -0400, Valdis Kletnieks wrote:
> > I'm seeing my laptop crash/wedge up/something during very early
> > boot - before it can write anything to the console. Nothing in pstore,
> > need to hold down the power button for 6 seconds and reboot.
> >
> > git bisect points at:
> >
> > commit 7a6bacb133752beacb76775797fd550417e9d3a2
> > Author: Joonsoo Kim <iamjoonsoo.kim@xxxxxxx>
> > Date: Thu Apr 7 13:59:39 2016 +1000
> >
> > mm/slab: factor out kmem_cache_node initialization code
> >
> > It can be reused on other place, so factor out it. Following patch wil
l
> > use it.
> >
> >
> > Not sure what the problem is - the logic *looks* ok at first read. The
> > patch *does* remove a spin_lock_irq() - but I find it difficult to
> > believe that with it gone, my laptop is able to hit the race condition
> > the spinlock protects against *every single boot*.
> >
> > The only other thing I see is that n->free_limit used to be assigned
> > every time, and now it's only assigned at initial creation.
>
> Hello,
>
> My fault. It should be assgined every time. Please test below patch.
> I will send it with proper SOB after you confirm the problem disappear.
> Thanks for report and analysis!

Following up - I verified that it was your patch series and not a bad bisect
by starting with a clean next-20160413 and reverting that series - and the
resulting kernel boots fine.

Will take a closer look at your fix patch and figure out what's still changed
afterwards - there's obviously some small semantic change that actually
matters, but we're not spotting it yet...

Attachment: pgp7jAYkdzIY4.pgp
Description: PGP signature