Thread (36 messages) flat view 36 messages, 6 authors, 9h ago

Re: [PATCH v3 2/5] binder: Make shrinker rely solely on per-VMA lock

From: "Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)" <ljs@kernel.org>
Date: 2026-08-03 11:10:40
Also in: linux-mm, lkml

On Sun, Aug 02, 2026 at 02:54:56PM -0700, Suren Baghdasaryan wrote:
quoted hunk ↗ jump to hunk
From: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>

tl;dr: lock_vma_under_rcu() is already a trylock. No need to do both
it and mmap_read_trylock().

Long Version:

== Background ==

Historically, binder used an mmap_read_trylock() in its shrinker code.
This ensures that reclaim is not blocked on an mmap_lock. Commit
95bc2d4a9020 ("binder: use per-vma lock in page reclaiming") added
support for the per-VMA lock, but left mmap_read_trylock() as a
fallback.

This was presumably because the per-VMA locking can fail for several
reasons and most (all?) lock_vma_under_rcu() callers have a fallback
to mmap_read_trylock().

== Problem ==

The fallback is not worth the complexity here. lock_vma_under_rcu() is
essentially already a non-blocking trylock. The main reason it fails
is also the reason mmap_read_trylock() fails: something is holding
mmap_write_lock().

The only remedy for a collision with mmap_write_lock() is to wait,
which this code can not do. So the "fallback" after
lock_vma_under_rcu() failure is not really a fallback: it is really
likely to just be retrying in vain. That retry in an of itself isn't
horrible. But it adds complexity.

== Solution ==

Now that per-VMA locks are universally available, lock_vma_under_rcu()
will not persistently fail. Rely on it alone and simplify the code.

Full disclosure: I originally tried to do this with
lock_vma_under_rcu_wait(), but it did not fit well with the mmap_lock
trylock semantics. Claude caught this in a review and suggested the
approach in this path. It seemed sane to me. So, Suggesed-by: Claude,
I guess.

Signed-off-by: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: "Liam R. Howlett" <redacted>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@kernel.org>
Cc: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@linux.dev>
Cc: linux-mm@kvack.org
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: Arve Hjønnevåg <arve@android.com>
Cc: Todd Kjos <tkjos@android.com>
Cc: Christian Brauner <christian@brauner.io>
Cc: Carlos Llamas <cmllamas@google.com>
Cc: Alice Ryhl <aliceryhl@google.com>
Cc: "David S. Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>
Cc: David Ahern <dsahern@kernel.org>
Cc: netdev@vger.kernel.org
---
 drivers/android/binder_alloc.c | 29 +++++++++++++++--------------
 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
diff --git a/drivers/android/binder_alloc.c b/drivers/android/binder_alloc.c
index e4488ad86a65..84104ba04e30 100644
--- a/drivers/android/binder_alloc.c
+++ b/drivers/android/binder_alloc.c
@@ -1142,7 +1142,6 @@ enum lru_status binder_alloc_free_page(struct list_head *item,
 	struct vm_area_struct *vma;
 	struct page *page_to_free;
 	unsigned long page_addr;
-	int mm_locked = 0;
 	size_t index;

 	if (!mmget_not_zero(mm))
@@ -1151,14 +1150,20 @@ enum lru_status binder_alloc_free_page(struct list_head *item,
 	index = mdata->page_index;
 	page_addr = alloc->vm_start + index * PAGE_SIZE;

-	/* attempt per-vma lock first */
+	/*
+	 * Attempt per-vma lock. This is essentially a
+	 * "trylock". It can fail even if the VMA exists
+	 * for 'page_addr'.
+	 */
This makes me wonder whether lock_vma_under_rcu() should really become
vma_trylock() at some point in time? :)

Or at least have 'trylock' in the name.
 	vma = lock_vma_under_rcu(mm, page_addr);
 	if (!vma) {
-		/* fall back to mmap_lock */
-		if (!mmap_read_trylock(mm))
-			goto err_mmap_read_lock_failed;
-		mm_locked = 1;
-		vma = vma_lookup(mm, page_addr);
+		/*
+		 * If the vma exists, we can't continue because we cannot
+		 * remove the page from the vma. However, if the vma was
+		 * unmapped, it's okay to continue.
+		 */
+		if (binder_alloc_is_mapped(alloc))
+			goto err_vma_lock_failed;
Hmm, it seems a bit odd to me that you also have:

	if (vma && !binder_alloc_is_mapped(alloc))
		goto err_invalid_vma;

Below?

So you have:

Before:

                        	|binder_alloc_is_mapped()?
				|yes   	no
			--------|-----------------
	vma is mapped?	yes	|OK	abort
			no	|OK	OK

Now:

                        	|binder_alloc_is_mapped()?
				|yes   	no
			--------|-----------------
	vma is mapped? maybe	|abort	OK
			yes	|OK	abort
			no	|OK	OK

The 'maybe' is because the VMA trylock failed.

So the issue is you might have a case where the VMA _is_ mapped but
!binder_alloc_is_mapped(), which previously aborted because of the vma &&
!binder_alloc_is_mapped() check.

It seems like:

	/*
	 * Since a binder_alloc can only be mapped once, we ensure
	 * the vma corresponds to this mapping by checking whether
	 * the binder_alloc is still mapped.
	 */
	if (vma && !binder_alloc_is_mapped(alloc))
		goto err_invalid_vma;

Is testing for a specific scenario 'we found a VMA but it turns out it's
invalid' and aborting if so.

So either this check should be removed or you should uncondtionally abort if
!vma I think?

quoted hunk ↗ jump to hunk
 	}

 	if (!mutex_trylock(&alloc->mutex))
@@ -1191,9 +1196,7 @@ enum lru_status binder_alloc_free_page(struct list_head *item,
 	}

 	mutex_unlock(&alloc->mutex);
-	if (mm_locked)
-		mmap_read_unlock(mm);
-	else
+	if (vma)
 		vma_end_read(vma);
 	mmput_async(mm);
 	binder_free_page(page_to_free);
@@ -1203,11 +1206,9 @@ enum lru_status binder_alloc_free_page(struct list_head *item,
 err_invalid_vma:
 	mutex_unlock(&alloc->mutex);
 err_get_alloc_mutex_failed:
-	if (mm_locked)
-		mmap_read_unlock(mm);
-	else
+	if (vma)
 		vma_end_read(vma);
-err_mmap_read_lock_failed:
+err_vma_lock_failed:
 	mmput_async(mm);
 err_mmget:
 	return LRU_SKIP;
--
2.55.0.508.g3f0d502094-goog
--
Cheers, Lorenzo
Keyboard shortcuts
hback out one level
jnext message in thread
kprevious message in thread
ldrill in
Escclose help / fold thread tree
?toggle this help