Re: [PATCH] Prevent netpoll hanging when link is down

[Matt Mackall <mpm@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Oct 11, 2004 at 06:43:15PM +0200, Andi Kleen wrote:
> > It's not recursion on printk that's a problem, it's recursion on
> > ->poll() and attempting to take whatever internal driver locks.
> 
> There is no recursion on poll because printk will never call into
> the low level console driver when the console sem is already taken.

Ergh, you deleted the context. Again, imagine we're originally in
->poll() for _a non-netpoll-related reason_. In other words, the
console sem is not taken, because we're just doing routine network
I/O. While in poll(), we take a private driver lock. Then for whatever
reason, we printk -> netconsole -> netpoll -> poll() again where we
attempt to retake the private driver lock.

> P.S.: I made the same mistake long ago, but akpm set me straight.

I'm pretty sure this case is different.

-- 
Mathematics is the supreme nostalgia of our time.