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authorGuilherme G. Piccoli <gpiccoli@canonical.com>2020-06-07 21:40:45 -0700
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2020-06-08 11:05:56 -0700
commit0ec9dc9bcba0a62b0844e54c1caf6b8b0bf6b5b4 (patch)
tree4f943adb6612e5161748b68437650507e78643d2 /kernel/sysctl.c
parentf117955a2255721a6a0e9cecf6cad3a6eb43cbc3 (diff)
downloadlinux-0ec9dc9bcba0a62b0844e54c1caf6b8b0bf6b5b4.tar.gz
kernel/hung_task.c: introduce sysctl to print all traces when a hung task is detected
Commit 401c636a0eeb ("kernel/hung_task.c: show all hung tasks before
panic") introduced a change in that we started to show all CPUs
backtraces when a hung task is detected _and_ the sysctl/kernel
parameter "hung_task_panic" is set.  The idea is good, because usually
when observing deadlocks (that may lead to hung tasks), the culprit is
another task holding a lock and not necessarily the task detected as
hung.

The problem with this approach is that dumping backtraces is a slightly
expensive task, specially printing that on console (and specially in
many CPU machines, as servers commonly found nowadays).  So, users that
plan to collect a kdump to investigate the hung tasks and narrow down
the deadlock definitely don't need the CPUs backtrace on dmesg/console,
which will delay the panic and pollute the log (crash tool would easily
grab all CPUs traces with 'bt -a' command).

Also, there's the reciprocal scenario: some users may be interested in
seeing the CPUs backtraces but not have the system panic when a hung
task is detected.  The current approach hence is almost as embedding a
policy in the kernel, by forcing the CPUs backtraces' dump (only) on
hung_task_panic.

This patch decouples the panic event on hung task from the CPUs
backtraces dump, by creating (and documenting) a new sysctl called
"hung_task_all_cpu_backtrace", analog to the approach taken on soft/hard
lockups, that have both a panic and an "all_cpu_backtrace" sysctl to
allow individual control.  The new mechanism for dumping the CPUs
backtraces on hung task detection respects "hung_task_warnings" by not
dumping the traces in case there's no warnings left.

Signed-off-by: Guilherme G. Piccoli <gpiccoli@canonical.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Reviewed-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
Cc: Tetsuo Handa <penguin-kernel@I-love.SAKURA.ne.jp>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20200327223646.20779-1-gpiccoli@canonical.com
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'kernel/sysctl.c')
-rw-r--r--kernel/sysctl.c11
1 files changed, 11 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/kernel/sysctl.c b/kernel/sysctl.c
index 587ed0494f2f..34c1278951b9 100644
--- a/kernel/sysctl.c
+++ b/kernel/sysctl.c
@@ -2437,6 +2437,17 @@ static struct ctl_table kern_table[] = {
 	},
 #endif
 #ifdef CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK
+#ifdef CONFIG_SMP
+	{
+		.procname	= "hung_task_all_cpu_backtrace",
+		.data		= &sysctl_hung_task_all_cpu_backtrace,
+		.maxlen		= sizeof(int),
+		.mode		= 0644,
+		.proc_handler	= proc_dointvec_minmax,
+		.extra1		= SYSCTL_ZERO,
+		.extra2		= SYSCTL_ONE,
+	},
+#endif /* CONFIG_SMP */
 	{
 		.procname	= "hung_task_panic",
 		.data		= &sysctl_hung_task_panic,