lockdep/timers: Explain in detail the locking problems del_timer_sync() may cause

Twice I had to explain the output about why lockdep gives an error with
locks in IRQ context and with del_timer_sync(). Might as well write it
up and place it in the comments above the code in del_timer_sync().
Perhaps the next time this lockdep dump triggers people will understand
the issues.

It is a ticky issue and very subtle, explaining it in detail in the code
may help others understand the issue when they stumble upon the bug
again.

Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@chello.nl>
LKML-Reference: <1297186794.23343.19.camel@gandalf.stny.rr.com>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>

1 files changed, 23 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/kernel/timer.c b/kernel/timer.c
index d6459923d245..5f40c2e0a94e 100644
--- a/kernel/timer.c
+++ b/kernel/timer.c
@@ -964,6 +964,25 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(try_to_del_timer_sync);
  * add_timer_on(). Upon exit the timer is not queued and the handler is
  * not running on any CPU.
  *
+ * Note: You must not hold locks that are held in interrupt context
+ *   while calling this function. Even if the lock has nothing to do
+ *   with the timer in question.  Here's why:
+ *
+ *    CPU0                             CPU1
+ *    ----                             ----
+ *                                   <SOFTIRQ>
+ *                                   call_timer_fn();
+ *                                     base->running_timer = mytimer;
+ *  spin_lock_irq(somelock);
+ *                                     <IRQ>
+ *                                        spin_lock(somelock);
+ *  del_timer_sync(mytimer);
+ *   while (base->running_timer == mytimer);
+ *
+ * Now del_timer_sync() will never return and never release somelock.
+ * The interrupt on the other CPU is waiting to grab somelock but
+ * it has interrupted the softirq that CPU0 is waiting to finish.
+ *
  * The function returns whether it has deactivated a pending timer or not.
  */
 int del_timer_sync(struct timer_list *timer)
@@ -971,6 +990,10 @@ int del_timer_sync(struct timer_list *timer)
 #ifdef CONFIG_LOCKDEP
         unsigned long flags;
 
+        /*
+         * If lockdep gives a backtrace here, please reference
+         * the synchronization rules above.
+         */
         local_irq_save(flags);
         lock_map_acquire(&timer->lockdep_map);
         lock_map_release(&timer->lockdep_map);