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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/RCU/stallwarn.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/RCU/stallwarn.txt | 94 |
1 files changed, 71 insertions, 23 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/stallwarn.txt b/Documentation/RCU/stallwarn.txt index 1423d2570d78..44c6dcc93d6d 100644 --- a/Documentation/RCU/stallwarn.txt +++ b/Documentation/RCU/stallwarn.txt @@ -3,35 +3,79 @@ Using RCU's CPU Stall Detector The CONFIG_RCU_CPU_STALL_DETECTOR kernel config parameter enables RCU's CPU stall detector, which detects conditions that unduly delay RCU grace periods. The stall detector's idea of what constitutes -"unduly delayed" is controlled by a pair of C preprocessor macros: +"unduly delayed" is controlled by a set of C preprocessor macros: RCU_SECONDS_TILL_STALL_CHECK This macro defines the period of time that RCU will wait from the beginning of a grace period until it issues an RCU CPU - stall warning. It is normally ten seconds. + stall warning. This time period is normally ten seconds. RCU_SECONDS_TILL_STALL_RECHECK This macro defines the period of time that RCU will wait after - issuing a stall warning until it issues another stall warning. - It is normally set to thirty seconds. + issuing a stall warning until it issues another stall warning + for the same stall. This time period is normally set to thirty + seconds. RCU_STALL_RAT_DELAY - The CPU stall detector tries to make the offending CPU rat on itself, - as this often gives better-quality stack traces. However, if - the offending CPU does not detect its own stall in the number - of jiffies specified by RCU_STALL_RAT_DELAY, then other CPUs will - complain. This is normally set to two jiffies. + The CPU stall detector tries to make the offending CPU print its + own warnings, as this often gives better-quality stack traces. + However, if the offending CPU does not detect its own stall in + the number of jiffies specified by RCU_STALL_RAT_DELAY, then + some other CPU will complain. This delay is normally set to + two jiffies. -The following problems can result in an RCU CPU stall warning: +When a CPU detects that it is stalling, it will print a message similar +to the following: + +INFO: rcu_sched_state detected stall on CPU 5 (t=2500 jiffies) + +This message indicates that CPU 5 detected that it was causing a stall, +and that the stall was affecting RCU-sched. This message will normally be +followed by a stack dump of the offending CPU. On TREE_RCU kernel builds, +RCU and RCU-sched are implemented by the same underlying mechanism, +while on TREE_PREEMPT_RCU kernel builds, RCU is instead implemented +by rcu_preempt_state. + +On the other hand, if the offending CPU fails to print out a stall-warning +message quickly enough, some other CPU will print a message similar to +the following: + +INFO: rcu_bh_state detected stalls on CPUs/tasks: { 3 5 } (detected by 2, 2502 jiffies) + +This message indicates that CPU 2 detected that CPUs 3 and 5 were both +causing stalls, and that the stall was affecting RCU-bh. This message +will normally be followed by stack dumps for each CPU. Please note that +TREE_PREEMPT_RCU builds can be stalled by tasks as well as by CPUs, +and that the tasks will be indicated by PID, for example, "P3421". +It is even possible for a rcu_preempt_state stall to be caused by both +CPUs -and- tasks, in which case the offending CPUs and tasks will all +be called out in the list. + +Finally, if the grace period ends just as the stall warning starts +printing, there will be a spurious stall-warning message: + +INFO: rcu_bh_state detected stalls on CPUs/tasks: { } (detected by 4, 2502 jiffies) + +This is rare, but does happen from time to time in real life. + +So your kernel printed an RCU CPU stall warning. The next question is +"What caused it?" The following problems can result in RCU CPU stall +warnings: o A CPU looping in an RCU read-side critical section. -o A CPU looping with interrupts disabled. +o A CPU looping with interrupts disabled. This condition can + result in RCU-sched and RCU-bh stalls. -o A CPU looping with preemption disabled. +o A CPU looping with preemption disabled. This condition can + result in RCU-sched stalls and, if ksoftirqd is in use, RCU-bh + stalls. + +o A CPU looping with bottom halves disabled. This condition can + result in RCU-sched and RCU-bh stalls. o For !CONFIG_PREEMPT kernels, a CPU looping anywhere in the kernel without invoking schedule(). @@ -39,20 +83,24 @@ o For !CONFIG_PREEMPT kernels, a CPU looping anywhere in the kernel o A bug in the RCU implementation. o A hardware failure. This is quite unlikely, but has occurred - at least once in a former life. A CPU failed in a running system, + at least once in real life. A CPU failed in a running system, becoming unresponsive, but not causing an immediate crash. This resulted in a series of RCU CPU stall warnings, eventually leading the realization that the CPU had failed. -The RCU, RCU-sched, and RCU-bh implementations have CPU stall warning. -SRCU does not do so directly, but its calls to synchronize_sched() will -result in RCU-sched detecting any CPU stalls that might be occurring. - -To diagnose the cause of the stall, inspect the stack traces. The offending -function will usually be near the top of the stack. If you have a series -of stall warnings from a single extended stall, comparing the stack traces -can often help determine where the stall is occurring, which will usually -be in the function nearest the top of the stack that stays the same from -trace to trace. +The RCU, RCU-sched, and RCU-bh implementations have CPU stall +warning. SRCU does not have its own CPU stall warnings, but its +calls to synchronize_sched() will result in RCU-sched detecting +RCU-sched-related CPU stalls. Please note that RCU only detects +CPU stalls when there is a grace period in progress. No grace period, +no CPU stall warnings. + +To diagnose the cause of the stall, inspect the stack traces. +The offending function will usually be near the top of the stack. +If you have a series of stall warnings from a single extended stall, +comparing the stack traces can often help determine where the stall +is occurring, which will usually be in the function nearest the top of +that portion of the stack which remains the same from trace to trace. +If you can reliably trigger the stall, ftrace can be quite helpful. RCU bugs can often be debugged with the help of CONFIG_RCU_TRACE. |