tree 208315d2b1c0892762178cc79b4a1ca2233080aa
parent ae34372eb8408b3d07e870f1939f99007a730d28
author Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org> 1389362242 -0500
committer Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org> 1389390488 -0800

kernfs: restructure removal path to fix possible premature return

The recursive nature of kernfs_remove() means that, even if
kernfs_remove() is not allowed to be called multiple times on the same
node, there may be race conditions between removal of parent and its
descendants.  While we can claim that kernfs_remove() shouldn't be
called on one of the descendants while the removal of an ancestor is
in progress, such rule is unnecessarily restrictive and very difficult
to enforce.  It's better to simply allow invoking kernfs_remove() as
the caller sees fit as long as the caller ensures that the node is
accessible.

The current behavior in such situations is broken.  Whoever enters
removal path first takes the node off the hierarchy and then
deactivates.  Following removers either return as soon as it notices
that it's not the first one or can't even find the target node as it
has already been removed from the hierarchy.  In both cases, the
following removers may finish prematurely while the nodes which should
be removed and drained are still being processed by the first one.

This patch restructures so that multiple removers, whether through
recursion or direction invocation, always follow the following rules.

* When there are multiple concurrent removers, only one puts the base
  ref.

* Regardless of which one puts the base ref, all removers are blocked
  until the target node is fully deactivated and removed.

To achieve the above, removal path now first deactivates the subtree,
drains it and then unlinks one-by-one.  __kernfs_deactivate() is
called directly from __kernfs_removal() and drops and regrabs
kernfs_mutex for each descendant to drain active refs.  As this means
that multiple removers can enter __kernfs_deactivate() for the same
node, the function is updated so that it can handle multiple
deactivators of the same node - only one actually deactivates but all
wait till drain completion.

The restructured removal path guarantees that a removed node gets
unlinked only after the node is deactivated and drained.  Combined
with proper multiple deactivator handling, this guarantees that any
invocation of kernfs_remove() returns only after the node itself and
all its descendants are deactivated, drained and removed.

v2: Draining separated into a separate loop (used to be in the same
    loop as unlink) and done from __kernfs_deactivate().  This is to
    allow exposing deactivation as a separate interface later.

    Root node removal was broken in v1 patch.  Fixed.

Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>