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| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/lockdep-design.txt | 63 |
1 files changed, 63 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/lockdep-design.txt b/Documentation/lockdep-design.txt index abf768c681e2..5dbc99c04f6e 100644 --- a/Documentation/lockdep-design.txt +++ b/Documentation/lockdep-design.txt @@ -221,3 +221,66 @@ when the chain is validated for the first time, is then put into a hash table, which hash-table can be checked in a lockfree manner. If the locking chain occurs again later on, the hash table tells us that we dont have to validate the chain again. + +Troubleshooting: +---------------- + +The validator tracks a maximum of MAX_LOCKDEP_KEYS number of lock classes. +Exceeding this number will trigger the following lockdep warning: + + (DEBUG_LOCKS_WARN_ON(id >= MAX_LOCKDEP_KEYS)) + +By default, MAX_LOCKDEP_KEYS is currently set to 8191, and typical +desktop systems have less than 1,000 lock classes, so this warning +normally results from lock-class leakage or failure to properly +initialize locks. These two problems are illustrated below: + +1. Repeated module loading and unloading while running the validator + will result in lock-class leakage. The issue here is that each + load of the module will create a new set of lock classes for + that module's locks, but module unloading does not remove old + classes (see below discussion of reuse of lock classes for why). + Therefore, if that module is loaded and unloaded repeatedly, + the number of lock classes will eventually reach the maximum. + +2. Using structures such as arrays that have large numbers of + locks that are not explicitly initialized. For example, + a hash table with 8192 buckets where each bucket has its own + spinlock_t will consume 8192 lock classes -unless- each spinlock + is explicitly initialized at runtime, for example, using the + run-time spin_lock_init() as opposed to compile-time initializers + such as __SPIN_LOCK_UNLOCKED(). Failure to properly initialize + the per-bucket spinlocks would guarantee lock-class overflow. + In contrast, a loop that called spin_lock_init() on each lock + would place all 8192 locks into a single lock class. + + The moral of this story is that you should always explicitly + initialize your locks. + +One might argue that the validator should be modified to allow +lock classes to be reused. However, if you are tempted to make this +argument, first review the code and think through the changes that would +be required, keeping in mind that the lock classes to be removed are +likely to be linked into the lock-dependency graph. This turns out to +be harder to do than to say. + +Of course, if you do run out of lock classes, the next thing to do is +to find the offending lock classes. First, the following command gives +you the number of lock classes currently in use along with the maximum: + + grep "lock-classes" /proc/lockdep_stats + +This command produces the following output on a modest system: + + lock-classes: 748 [max: 8191] + +If the number allocated (748 above) increases continually over time, +then there is likely a leak. The following command can be used to +identify the leaking lock classes: + + grep "BD" /proc/lockdep + +Run the command and save the output, then compare against the output from +a later run of this command to identify the leakers. This same output +can also help you find situations where runtime lock initialization has +been omitted. |