running strace utility can cause system to hang at sys_ptrace

We ran into a system hang problem at sys_ptrace.

The system may hang if a user attempts to
"strace" a pthreaded
application that is making frequent calls to pthread_create
&
pthread_exit.
The hang is caused by a task sleeping (yield()) while
holding the
tasklist_lock.

Note that the problem appears to exist ONLY on IA64. IA64
has an
ARCH-specific implementation of sys_ptrace().

The failing path is:

          sys_ptrace
            read_lock(&tasklist_lock);
               find_thread_for_addr(child, addr);
                 thread_matches(p, addr)
                   ptrace_check_attach(thread, 0)
                     wait_task_inactive(child);
                       yield();

Failures always show 1 task sleeping with the backtrace
listed
above, plus tasks on all cpus spinning waiting to write_lock
the
tasklist lock.

Sleeping
   Stack traceback for pid 31069
   0xe00000343b800000    31069    0    3   R 
0xe00000343b8003a0 strace
   0xa000000100981c60 schedule+0x2460
   0xa00000010007d4d0 sys_sched_yield+0x110
   0xa000000100982120 yield+0x40
   0xa000000100082f10 wait_task_inactive+0x170
   0xa0000001000a2570 ptrace_check_attach+0x1d0
   0xa00000010002e9b0 sys_ptrace+0x1f0
   0xa00000010000c900 ia64_ret_from_syscall

CPU 0
   0xe00000343b5f0000     4973    0    3   C 
0xe00000343b5f03a0  thdcrex
   0xa00000010000caa0 ia64_leave_kernel
   0xa00000010053d0a0 _raw_write_lock+0x120
   0xa0000001009854d0 _write_lock_irq+0x30
   0xa000000100093a00 do_exit+0xae0
   0xa000000100094560 sys_exit+0x20
   0xa00000010000c900 ia64_ret_from_syscall

CPU 1
   0xe000003038880000     4972    0    1   R 
0xe0000030388803a0  thdcrex
   0xa00000010000caa0 ia64_leave_kernel
   0xa00000010053d0a0 _raw_write_lock+0x120
   0xa0000001009854d0 _write_lock_irq+0x30
   0xa0000001000880e0 copy_process+0x1f80
   0xa000000100088e30 do_fork+0x150
   0xa00000010000c160 sys_clone2+0x60
   0xa00000010000c900 ia64_ret_from_syscall


Regards,
  - jay
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Correct David's email addr. Add Christoph Hellwig.

Regards,
  - jay


Jay Lan wrote:
> We ran into a system hang problem at sys_ptrace.
> 
> The system may hang if a user attempts to
"strace" a pthreaded
> application that is making frequent calls to
pthread_create &
> pthread_exit.
> The hang is caused by a task sleeping (yield()) while
holding the
> tasklist_lock.
> 
> Note that the problem appears to exist ONLY on IA64.
IA64 has an
> ARCH-specific implementation of sys_ptrace().
> 
> The failing path is:
> 
>          sys_ptrace
>            read_lock(&tasklist_lock);
>               find_thread_for_addr(child, addr);
>                 thread_matches(p, addr)
>                   ptrace_check_attach(thread, 0)
>                     wait_task_inactive(child);
>                       yield();
> 
> Failures always show 1 task sleeping with the backtrace
listed
> above, plus tasks on all cpus spinning waiting to
write_lock the
> tasklist lock.
> 
> Sleeping
>   Stack traceback for pid 31069
>   0xe00000343b800000    31069    0    3   R 
0xe00000343b8003a0 strace
>   0xa000000100981c60 schedule+0x2460
>   0xa00000010007d4d0 sys_sched_yield+0x110
>   0xa000000100982120 yield+0x40
>   0xa000000100082f10 wait_task_inactive+0x170
>   0xa0000001000a2570 ptrace_check_attach+0x1d0
>   0xa00000010002e9b0 sys_ptrace+0x1f0
>   0xa00000010000c900 ia64_ret_from_syscall
> 
> CPU 0
>   0xe00000343b5f0000     4973    0    3   C 
0xe00000343b5f03a0  thdcrex
>   0xa00000010000caa0 ia64_leave_kernel
>   0xa00000010053d0a0 _raw_write_lock+0x120
>   0xa0000001009854d0 _write_lock_irq+0x30
>   0xa000000100093a00 do_exit+0xae0
>   0xa000000100094560 sys_exit+0x20
>   0xa00000010000c900 ia64_ret_from_syscall
> 
> CPU 1
>   0xe000003038880000     4972    0    1   R 
0xe0000030388803a0  thdcrex
>   0xa00000010000caa0 ia64_leave_kernel
>   0xa00000010053d0a0 _raw_write_lock+0x120
>   0xa0000001009854d0 _write_lock_irq+0x30
>   0xa0000001000880e0 copy_process+0x1f80
>   0xa000000100088e30 do_fork+0x150
>   0xa00000010000c160 sys_clone2+0x60
>   0xa00000010000c900 ia64_ret_from_syscall
> 
> 
> Regards,
>  - jay
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line
"unsubscribe linux-ia64" in
> the body of a message to majordomovger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vge
r.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html

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On Thu, Jul 13, 2006 at 11:24:40AM -0700, Jay Lan wrote:
> >We ran into a system hang problem at sys_ptrace.
> >
> >The system may hang if a user attempts to
"strace" a pthreaded
> >application that is making frequent calls to
pthread_create &
> >pthread_exit.
> >The hang is caused by a task sleeping (yield())
while holding the
> >tasklist_lock.
> >
> >Note that the problem appears to exist ONLY on
IA64. IA64 has an
> >ARCH-specific implementation of sys_ptrace().

And David's patch to get rid of this ia64-special would fix
this aswell:

http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-
kernel&m=111575781225495&w=2

Note that this patch would need some updates for merging
these days:

 - make ptrace_attach_sync_user_rbs and architecture hook
aswell, so
   that ia64 can use the generic ptrace code
 - kmalloc return value needs checking
 - adjust coding style to match the normal linux style now
that
   arch/ia64/ adheres to it.

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