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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/RCU/stallwarn.txt')
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diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/stallwarn.txt b/Documentation/RCU/stallwarn.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..523364e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/RCU/stallwarn.txt @@ -0,0 +1,204 @@ +Using RCU's CPU Stall Detector + +The rcu_cpu_stall_suppress module parameter enables RCU's CPU stall +detector, which detects conditions that unduly delay RCU grace periods. +This module parameter enables CPU stall detection by default, but +may be overridden via boot-time parameter or at runtime via sysfs. +The stall detector's idea of what constitutes "unduly delayed" is +controlled by a set of kernel configuration variables and cpp macros: + +CONFIG_RCU_CPU_STALL_TIMEOUT + + This kernel configuration parameter defines the period of time + that RCU will wait from the beginning of a grace period until it + issues an RCU CPU stall warning. This time period is normally + sixty seconds. + + This configuration parameter may be changed at runtime via the + /sys/module/rcutree/parameters/rcu_cpu_stall_timeout, however + this parameter is checked only at the beginning of a cycle. + So if you are 30 seconds into a 70-second stall, setting this + sysfs parameter to (say) five will shorten the timeout for the + -next- stall, or the following warning for the current stall + (assuming the stall lasts long enough). It will not affect the + timing of the next warning for the current stall. + + Stall-warning messages may be enabled and disabled completely via + /sys/module/rcutree/parameters/rcu_cpu_stall_suppress. + +CONFIG_RCU_CPU_STALL_VERBOSE + + This kernel configuration parameter causes the stall warning to + also dump the stacks of any tasks that are blocking the current + RCU-preempt grace period. + +RCU_CPU_STALL_INFO + + This kernel configuration parameter causes the stall warning to + print out additional per-CPU diagnostic information, including + information on scheduling-clock ticks and RCU's idle-CPU tracking. + +RCU_STALL_DELAY_DELTA + + Although the lockdep facility is extremely useful, it does add + some overhead. Therefore, under CONFIG_PROVE_RCU, the + RCU_STALL_DELAY_DELTA macro allows five extra seconds before + giving an RCU CPU stall warning message. + +RCU_STALL_RAT_DELAY + + 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. + +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. + +If the CONFIG_RCU_CPU_STALL_INFO kernel configuration parameter is set, +more information is printed with the stall-warning message, for example: + + INFO: rcu_preempt detected stall on CPU + 0: (63959 ticks this GP) idle=241/3fffffffffffffff/0 + (t=65000 jiffies) + +In kernels with CONFIG_RCU_FAST_NO_HZ, even more information is +printed: + + INFO: rcu_preempt detected stall on CPU + 0: (64628 ticks this GP) idle=dd5/3fffffffffffffff/0 drain=0 . timer=-1 + (t=65000 jiffies) + +The "(64628 ticks this GP)" indicates that this CPU has taken more +than 64,000 scheduling-clock interrupts during the current stalled +grace period. If the CPU was not yet aware of the current grace +period (for example, if it was offline), then this part of the message +indicates how many grace periods behind the CPU is. + +The "idle=" portion of the message prints the dyntick-idle state. +The hex number before the first "/" is the low-order 12 bits of the +dynticks counter, which will have an even-numbered value if the CPU is +in dyntick-idle mode and an odd-numbered value otherwise. The hex +number between the two "/"s is the value of the nesting, which will +be a small positive number if in the idle loop and a very large positive +number (as shown above) otherwise. + +For CONFIG_RCU_FAST_NO_HZ kernels, the "drain=0" indicates that the +CPU is not in the process of trying to force itself into dyntick-idle +state, the "." indicates that the CPU has not given up forcing RCU +into dyntick-idle mode (it would be "H" otherwise), and the "timer=-1" +indicates that the CPU has not recented forced RCU into dyntick-idle +mode (it would otherwise indicate the number of microseconds remaining +in this forced state). + + +Multiple Warnings From One Stall + +If a stall lasts long enough, multiple stall-warning messages will be +printed for it. The second and subsequent messages are printed at +longer intervals, so that the time between (say) the first and second +message will be about three times the interval between the beginning +of the stall and the first message. + + +What Causes RCU CPU Stall Warnings? + +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. This condition can + result in RCU-sched and RCU-bh stalls. + +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(). + +o A CPU-bound real-time task in a CONFIG_PREEMPT kernel, which might + happen to preempt a low-priority task in the middle of an RCU + read-side critical section. This is especially damaging if + that low-priority task is not permitted to run on any other CPU, + in which case the next RCU grace period can never complete, which + will eventually cause the system to run out of memory and hang. + While the system is in the process of running itself out of + memory, you might see stall-warning messages. + +o A CPU-bound real-time task in a CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT kernel that + is running at a higher priority than the RCU softirq threads. + This will prevent RCU callbacks from ever being invoked, + and in a CONFIG_TREE_PREEMPT_RCU kernel will further prevent + RCU grace periods from ever completing. Either way, the + system will eventually run out of memory and hang. In the + CONFIG_TREE_PREEMPT_RCU case, you might see stall-warning + messages. + +o A hardware or software issue shuts off the scheduler-clock + interrupt on a CPU that is not in dyntick-idle mode. This + problem really has happened, and seems to be most likely to + result in RCU CPU stall warnings for CONFIG_NO_HZ=n kernels. + +o A bug in the RCU implementation. + +o A hardware failure. This is quite unlikely, but has occurred + 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 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 +and with RCU's event tracing. |