Re: [PATCHv6 2/3] block: fix lockdep warning caused by lock dependency in elv_iosched_store

On Mon, Jun 30, 2025 at 10:51:55AM +0530, Nilay Shroff wrote:

Recent lockdep reports [1] have revealed a potential deadlock caused by a
lock dependency between the percpu allocator lock and the elevator lock.
This issue can be avoided by ensuring that the allocation and release of
scheduler tags (sched_tags) are performed outside the elevator lock.
Furthermore, the queue does not need to be remain frozen during these
operations.

To address this, move all sched_tags allocations and deallocations outside
of both the ->elevator_lock and the ->freeze_lock. Since the lifetime of
the elevator queue and its associated sched_tags is closely tied, the
allocated sched_tags are now stored in the elevator queue structure. Then,
during the actual elevator switch (which runs under ->freeze_lock and
->elevator_lock), the pre-allocated sched_tags are assigned to the
appropriate q->hctx. Once the elevator switch is complete and the locks
are released, the old elevator queue and its associated sched_tags are
freed.

This commit specifically addresses the allocation/deallocation of sched_
tags during elevator switching. Note that sched_tags may also be allocated
in other contexts, such as during nr_hw_queues updates. Supporting that
use case will require batch allocation/deallocation, which will be handled
in a follow-up patch.

This restructuring ensures that sched_tags memory management occurs
entirely outside of the ->elevator_lock and ->freeze_lock context,
eliminating the lock dependency problem seen during scheduler updates.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/0659ea8d-a463-47c8-9180-43c719e106eb@linux.ibm.com/ (local)

Reported-by: Stefan Haberland <sth@linux.ibm.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/0659ea8d-a463-47c8-9180-43c719e106eb@linux.ibm.com/ (local)
Signed-off-by: Nilay Shroff <redacted>

Reviewed-by: Ming Lei <redacted>


Thanks,
Ming