linux/kernel
Thomas Gleixner 58229a1899 posix-timers: Prevent softirq starvation by small intervals and SIG_IGN
posix-timers which deliver an ignored signal are currently rearmed in
the timer softirq: This is necessary because the timer needs to be
delivered again when SIG_IGN is removed. This is not a problem, when
the interval is reasonable.

With high resolution timers enabled one might arm a posix timer with a
very small interval and ignore the signal. This might lead to a
softirq starvation when the interval is so small that the timer is
requeued onto the softirq pending list right away.

This problem was pointed out by Jan Kiszka. Thanks Jan !

The correct solution would be to stop the timer, when the signal is
ignored and rearm it when SIG_IGN is removed. Unfortunately this
requires modification in sigaction and involves non trivial sighand
locking. It's too late in the release cycle for such a change.

For now we just keep the timer running and enforce that the timer only
fires every jiffie. This does not break anything as we keep the
overrun counter correct. It adds a little inaccuracy to the
timer_gettime() interface, but...

The more complex change is necessary anyway to fix another short
coming of the current implementation, which I discovered while looking
at this problem: A pending signal is discarded when SIG_IGN is set. In
case that a posixtimer signal is pending then it is discarded as well,
but when SIG_IGN is removed later nothing rearms the timer. This is
not new, it's that way since posix timers have been merged. So nothing
to worry about right now.

I have a working solution to fix all of this, but the impact is too
large for both stable and 2.6.22. I'm going to send it out for review
in the next days.

This should go into 2.6.21.stable as well.

Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Cc: Jan Kiszka <jan.kiszka@web.de>
Cc: Ulrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com>
Cc: Stable Team <stable@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2007-06-21 15:57:04 -07:00
..
irq Fix crash with irqpoll due to the IRQF_IRQPOLL flag testing 2007-05-24 08:37:14 -07:00
power swsusp: Fix userland interface 2007-06-16 13:16:15 -07:00
time timer stats: speedups 2007-06-01 08:18:30 -07:00
.gitignore gitignore: ignore more generated files 2006-01-03 11:35:26 +01:00
acct.c [PATCH] kernel: change uses of f_{dentry, vfsmnt} to use f_path 2006-12-08 08:28:42 -08:00
audit.c audit: add spaces on either side of case "..." operator. 2007-05-08 11:15:09 -07:00
audit.h [PATCH] audit signal recipients 2007-05-11 05:38:25 -04:00
auditfilter.c audit_match_signal() and friends are used only if CONFIG_AUDITSYSCALL is set 2007-05-15 18:56:37 -07:00
auditsc.c [PATCH] Abnormal End of Processes 2007-05-11 05:38:26 -04:00
capability.c [PATCH] pid: replace do/while_each_task_pid with do/while_each_pid_task 2007-02-12 09:48:32 -08:00
compat.c signal/timer/event: timerfd compat code 2007-05-11 08:29:36 -07:00
configs.c use simple_read_from_buffer in kernel/ 2007-05-09 12:30:49 -07:00
cpu.c microcode: use suspend-related CPU hotplug notifications 2007-05-09 12:30:56 -07:00
cpuset.c cpuset: zero malloc - fix for old cpusets 2007-06-16 13:16:15 -07:00
delayacct.c KMEM_CACHE(): simplify slab cache creation 2007-05-07 12:12:55 -07:00
die_notifier.c move die notifier handling to common code 2007-05-08 11:15:04 -07:00
dma.c [PATCH] struct seq_operations and struct file_operations constification 2006-12-07 08:39:46 -08:00
exec_domain.c Remove obsolete #include <linux/config.h> 2006-06-30 19:25:36 +02:00
exit.c pi-futex: fix exit races and locking problems 2007-06-08 17:23:34 -07:00
extable.c [PATCH] symbol_put_addr() locks kernel 2006-05-15 11:20:55 -07:00
fork.c freezer: fix vfork problem 2007-05-23 20:14:11 -07:00
futex_compat.c Revert "futex_requeue_pi optimization" 2007-06-18 09:48:41 -07:00
futex.c Revert "futex_requeue_pi optimization" 2007-06-18 09:48:41 -07:00
hrtimer.c Add suspend-related notifications for CPU hotplug 2007-05-09 12:30:56 -07:00
itimer.c The scheduled -EINVAL for invalid timevals in setitimer 2007-05-08 11:15:13 -07:00
kallsyms.c fix possible null ptr deref in kallsyms_lookup 2007-05-30 10:51:38 -07:00
Kconfig.hz [PATCH] HZ: 300Hz support 2006-12-07 08:39:36 -08:00
Kconfig.preempt Fix trivial typos in Kconfig* files 2007-05-09 07:12:20 +02:00
kexec.c kdump/kexec: calculate note size at compile time 2007-05-08 11:15:07 -07:00
kfifo.c [PATCH] Numerous fixes to kernel-doc info in source files. 2007-02-11 10:51:32 -08:00
kmod.c wait_for_helper: remove unneeded do_sigaction() 2007-05-09 12:30:53 -07:00
kprobes.c Kprobes: The ON/OFF knob thru debugfs 2007-05-08 11:15:19 -07:00
ksysfs.c remove "struct subsystem" as it is no longer needed 2007-05-02 18:57:59 -07:00
kthread.c freezer: fix kthread_create vs freezer theoretical race 2007-05-23 20:14:11 -07:00
latency.c [PATCH] severing module.h->sched.h 2006-12-04 02:00:22 -05:00
lockdep_internals.h [PATCH] lockdep: more chains 2006-12-07 08:39:43 -08:00
lockdep_proc.c [PATCH] remove many unneeded #includes of sched.h 2007-02-14 08:09:54 -08:00
lockdep.c lockdep: removed unused ip argument in mark_lock & mark_held_locks 2007-05-08 11:15:13 -07:00
Makefile move die notifier handling to common code 2007-05-08 11:15:04 -07:00
module.c Fix minor typoes in kernel/module.c 2007-05-09 07:26:28 +02:00
mutex-debug.c [PATCH] remove many unneeded #includes of sched.h 2007-02-14 08:09:54 -08:00
mutex-debug.h [PATCH] lockdep: better lock debugging 2006-07-03 15:27:01 -07:00
mutex.c wrap access to thread_info 2007-05-09 12:30:56 -07:00
mutex.h [PATCH] lockdep: prove mutex locking correctness 2006-07-03 15:27:04 -07:00
nsproxy.c Merge sys_clone()/sys_unshare() nsproxy and namespace handling 2007-05-08 11:15:00 -07:00
panic.c [PATCH] Add TAINT_USER and ability to set taint flags from userspace 2007-02-11 10:51:29 -08:00
params.c kernel/params.c: fix lying comment for param_array() 2007-05-08 11:15:08 -07:00
pid.c statically initialize struct pid for swapper 2007-05-11 08:29:35 -07:00
posix-cpu-timers.c Introduce a handy list_first_entry macro 2007-05-08 11:15:11 -07:00
posix-timers.c posix-timers: Prevent softirq starvation by small intervals and SIG_IGN 2007-06-21 15:57:04 -07:00
printk.c header cleaning: don't include smp_lock.h when not used 2007-05-08 11:15:07 -07:00
profile.c Detach sched.h from mm.h 2007-05-21 09:18:19 -07:00
ptrace.c [PATCH] auditing ptrace 2007-05-11 05:38:25 -04:00
rcupdate.c Add suspend-related notifications for CPU hotplug 2007-05-09 12:30:56 -07:00
rcutorture.c rcutorture: Remove redundant assignment to cur_ops in for loop 2007-05-08 11:15:17 -07:00
relay.c Merge git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/bunk/trivial 2007-05-09 12:54:17 -07:00
resource.c libata/IDE: remove combined mode quirk 2007-04-28 14:15:59 -04:00
rtmutex_common.h Revert "futex_requeue_pi optimization" 2007-06-18 09:48:41 -07:00
rtmutex-debug.c Remove all inclusions of <linux/config.h> 2006-10-04 03:38:54 -04:00
rtmutex-debug.h [PATCH] lockdep: better lock debugging 2006-07-03 15:27:01 -07:00
rtmutex-tester.c [PATCH] Add include/linux/freezer.h and move definitions from sched.h 2006-12-07 08:39:27 -08:00
rtmutex.c Revert "futex_requeue_pi optimization" 2007-06-18 09:48:41 -07:00
rtmutex.h [PATCH] lockdep: better lock debugging 2006-07-03 15:27:01 -07:00
rwsem.c Lockdep treats down_write_trylock like regular down_write 2007-05-08 11:15:09 -07:00
sched.c Fix possible runqueue lock starvation in wait_task_inactive() 2007-06-18 11:52:55 -07:00
seccomp.c Linux-2.6.12-rc2 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07:00
signal.c Fix signalfd interaction with thread-private signals 2007-06-18 10:18:32 -07:00
softirq.c Add suspend-related notifications for CPU hotplug 2007-05-09 12:30:56 -07:00
softlockup.c Add suspend-related notifications for CPU hotplug 2007-05-09 12:30:56 -07:00
spinlock.c [PATCH] lockdep: spin_lock_irqsave_nested() 2006-11-25 13:28:34 -08:00
srcu.c [PATCH] SRCU: report out-of-memory errors 2006-10-04 07:55:30 -07:00
stacktrace.c [PATCH] lockdep: stacktrace subsystem, core 2006-07-03 15:27:02 -07:00
stop_machine.c stop_machine() now uses hard_irq_disable 2007-05-11 08:29:34 -07:00
sys_ni.c compat signalfd and timerfd are cond syscalls 2007-05-12 10:55:40 -07:00
sys.c attach_pid() with struct pid parameter 2007-05-11 08:29:35 -07:00
sysctl.c make sysctl/kernel/core_pattern and fs/exec.c agree on maximum core filename size 2007-05-17 05:23:05 -07:00
taskstats.c KMEM_CACHE(): simplify slab cache creation 2007-05-07 12:12:55 -07:00
time.c header cleaning: don't include smp_lock.h when not used 2007-05-08 11:15:07 -07:00
timer.c NOHZ: prevent multiplication overflow - stop timer for huge timeouts 2007-05-29 18:11:10 -07:00
tsacct.c [PATCH] time: x86_64: split x86_64/kernel/time.c up 2007-02-16 08:14:00 -08:00
uid16.c header cleaning: don't include smp_lock.h when not used 2007-05-08 11:15:07 -07:00
user.c [PATCH] slab: remove kmem_cache_t 2006-12-07 08:39:25 -08:00
utsname_sysctl.c [PATCH] sysctl: remove insert_at_head from register_sysctl 2007-02-14 08:09:59 -08:00
utsname.c Merge sys_clone()/sys_unshare() nsproxy and namespace handling 2007-05-08 11:15:00 -07:00
wait.c Fix occurrences of "the the " 2007-05-09 08:57:56 +02:00
workqueue.c simplify cleanup_workqueue_thread() 2007-05-23 20:14:13 -07:00