linux-toradex.git/kernel/sysctl.c, branch v3.15-rc7

hung_task: check the value of "sysctl_hung_task_timeout_sec"

2014-04-07T23:36:07+00:00

As sysctl_hung_task_timeout_sec is unsigned long, when this value is
larger then LONG_MAX/HZ, the function schedule_timeout_interruptible in
watchdog will return immediately without sleep and with print :

  schedule_timeout: wrong timeout value ffffffffffffff83

and then the funtion watchdog will call schedule_timeout_interruptible
again and again.  The screen will be filled with

	"schedule_timeout: wrong timeout value ffffffffffffff83"

This patch does some check and correction in sysctl, to let the function
schedule_timeout_interruptible allways get the valid parameter.

Signed-off-by: Liu Hua 
Tested-by: Satoru Takeuchi 
Cc: 	[3.4+]
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton 
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds

drop_caches: add some documentation and info message

2014-04-03T23:21:04+00:00

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence and a load of blog posts
suggesting that using "drop_caches" periodically keeps your system
running in "tip top shape".  Perhaps adding some kernel documentation
will increase the amount of accurate data on its use.

If we are not shrinking caches effectively, then we have real bugs.
Using drop_caches will simply mask the bugs and make them harder to
find, but certainly does not fix them, nor is it an appropriate
"workaround" to limit the size of the caches.  On the contrary, there
have been bug reports on issues that turned out to be misguided use of
cache dropping.

Dropping caches is a very drastic and disruptive operation that is good
for debugging and running tests, but if it creates bug reports from
production use, kernel developers should be aware of its use.

Add a bit more documentation about it, a syslog message to track down
abusers, and vmstat drop counters to help analyze problem reports.

[akpm@linux-foundation.org: checkpatch fixes]
[hannes@cmpxchg.org: add runtime suppression control]
Signed-off-by: Dave Hansen 
Signed-off-by: Michal Hocko 
Acked-by: KOSAKI Motohiro 
Acked-by: KAMEZAWA Hiroyuki 
Signed-off-by: Johannes Weiner 
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton 
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds

Merge branch 'for-3.15/core' of git://git.kernel.dk/linux-block

2014-04-02T02:19:15+00:00

Pull core block layer updates from Jens Axboe:
 "This is the pull request for the core block IO bits for the 3.15
  kernel.  It's a smaller round this time, it contains:

   - Various little blk-mq fixes and additions from Christoph and
     myself.

   - Cleanup of the IPI usage from the block layer, and associated
     helper code.  From Frederic Weisbecker and Jan Kara.

   - Duplicate code cleanup in bio-integrity from Gu Zheng.  This will
     give you a merge conflict, but that should be easy to resolve.

   - blk-mq notify spinlock fix for RT from Mike Galbraith.

   - A blktrace partial accounting bug fix from Roman Pen.

   - Missing REQ_SYNC detection fix for blk-mq from Shaohua Li"

* 'for-3.15/core' of git://git.kernel.dk/linux-block: (25 commits)
  blk-mq: add REQ_SYNC early
  rt,blk,mq: Make blk_mq_cpu_notify_lock a raw spinlock
  blk-mq: support partial I/O completions
  blk-mq: merge blk_mq_insert_request and blk_mq_run_request
  blk-mq: remove blk_mq_alloc_rq
  blk-mq: don't dump CPU -> hw queue map on driver load
  blk-mq: fix wrong usage of hctx->state vs hctx->flags
  blk-mq: allow blk_mq_init_commands() to return failure
  block: remove old blk_iopoll_enabled variable
  blktrace: fix accounting of partially completed requests
  smp: Rename __smp_call_function_single() to smp_call_function_single_async()
  smp: Remove wait argument from __smp_call_function_single()
  watchdog: Simplify a little the IPI call
  smp: Move __smp_call_function_single() below its safe version
  smp: Consolidate the various smp_call_function_single() declensions
  smp: Teach __smp_call_function_single() to check for offline cpus
  smp: Remove unused list_head from csd
  smp: Iterate functions through llist_for_each_entry_safe()
  block: Stop abusing rq->csd.list in blk-softirq
  block: Remove useless IPI struct initialization
  ...

block: remove old blk_iopoll_enabled variable

2014-03-13T15:38:42+00:00

This was a debugging measure to toggle enabled/disabled
when testing. But for real production setups, it's not
safe to toggle this setting without either reloading
drivers of quiescing IO first. Neither of which the toggle
enforces.

Additionally, it makes drivers deal with the conditional
state.

Remove it completely. It's up to the driver whether iopoll
is enabled or not.

Signed-off-by: Jens Axboe

Merge branch 'linus' into sched/core, to resolve conflicts

2014-02-02T08:45:39+00:00

Conflicts:
	kernel/sysctl.c

Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar

Merge branch 'core-urgent-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip

2014-01-31T16:59:46+00:00

Pull core debug changes from Ingo Molnar:
 "This contains mostly kernel debugging related updates:

   - make hung_task detection more configurable to distros
   - add final bits for x86 UV NMI debugging, with related KGDB changes
   - update the mailing-list of MAINTAINERS entries I'm involved with"

* 'core-urgent-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip:
  hung_task: Display every hung task warning
  sysctl: Add neg_one as a standard constraint
  x86/uv/nmi, kgdb/kdb: Fix UV NMI handler when KDB not configured
  x86/uv/nmi: Fix Sparse warnings
  kgdb/kdb: Fix no KDB config problem
  MAINTAINERS: Restore "L: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org" entries

sched/numa, mm: Remove p->numa_migrate_deferred

2014-01-28T12:17:04+00:00

Excessive migration of pages can hurt the performance of workloads
that span multiple NUMA nodes.  However, it turns out that the
p->numa_migrate_deferred knob is a really big hammer, which does
reduce migration rates, but does not actually help performance.

Now that the second stage of the automatic numa balancing code
has stabilized, it is time to replace the simplistic migration
deferral code with something smarter.

Signed-off-by: Rik van Riel 
Acked-by: Mel Gorman 
Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra 
Cc: Chegu Vinod 
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1390860228-21539-2-git-send-email-riel@redhat.com
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar

hung_task: Display every hung task warning

2014-01-25T11:13:33+00:00

When khungtaskd detects hung tasks, it prints out
backtraces from a number of those tasks.

Limiting the number of backtraces being printed
out can result in the user not seeing the information
necessary to debug the issue. The hung_task_warnings
sysctl controls this feature.

This patch makes it possible for hung_task_warnings
to accept a special value to print an unlimited
number of backtraces when khungtaskd detects hung
tasks.

The special value is -1. To use this value it is
necessary to change types from ulong to int.

Signed-off-by: Aaron Tomlin 
Reviewed-by: Rik van Riel 
Acked-by: David Rientjes 
Cc: oleg@redhat.com
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1390239253-24030-3-git-send-email-atomlin@redhat.com
[ Build warning fix. ]
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar

sysctl: Add neg_one as a standard constraint

2014-01-25T07:59:53+00:00

Add neg_one to the list of standard constraints - will be used by the next patch.

Signed-off-by: Aaron Tomlin 
Acked-by: Rik van Riel 
Acked-by: David Rientjes 
Cc: oleg@redhat.com
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1390239253-24030-2-git-send-email-atomlin@redhat.com
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar

kexec: add sysctl to disable kexec_load

2014-01-24T00:37:03+00:00

For general-purpose (i.e.  distro) kernel builds it makes sense to build
with CONFIG_KEXEC to allow end users to choose what kind of things they
want to do with kexec.  However, in the face of trying to lock down a
system with such a kernel, there needs to be a way to disable kexec_load
(much like module loading can be disabled).  Without this, it is too easy
for the root user to modify kernel memory even when CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM
and modules_disabled are set.  With this change, it is still possible to
load an image for use later, then disable kexec_load so the image (or lack
of image) can't be altered.

The intention is for using this in environments where "perfect"
enforcement is hard.  Without a verified boot, along with verified
modules, and along with verified kexec, this is trying to give a system a
better chance to defend itself (or at least grow the window of
discoverability) against attack in the face of a privilege escalation.

In my mind, I consider several boot scenarios:

1) Verified boot of read-only verified root fs loading fd-based
   verification of kexec images.
2) Secure boot of writable root fs loading signed kexec images.
3) Regular boot loading kexec (e.g. kcrash) image early and locking it.
4) Regular boot with no control of kexec image at all.

1 and 2 don't exist yet, but will soon once the verified kexec series has
landed.  4 is the state of things now.  The gap between 2 and 4 is too
large, so this change creates scenario 3, a middle-ground above 4 when 2
and 1 are not possible for a system.

Signed-off-by: Kees Cook 
Acked-by: Rik van Riel 
Cc: Vivek Goyal 
Cc: Eric Biederman 
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton 
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds