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Mike Waychison 691b052139 block: fix race in blk_time_get_ns() returning 0
blk_time_get_ns() populates the per-plug cached timestamp and then
returns it by re-reading the field:

	if (!plug->cur_ktime) {
		plug->cur_ktime = ktime_get_ns();
		current->flags |= PF_BLOCK_TS;
	}
	return plug->cur_ktime;

This is problematic when the compiler emits the final
"return plug->cur_ktime" as a reload from memory, after PF_BLOCK_TS has
already been set.

Since the cached timestamp is now invalidated from finish_task_switch()
(fad156c2af "block: invalidate cached plug timestamp after task
switch"), a task preempted between setting PF_BLOCK_TS and that reload
has plug->cur_ktime zeroed by blk_plug_invalidate_ts() when it is
scheduled back in.  The reload then returns 0.

A 0 handed back here is stored as a start timestamp -- e.g.
blk_account_io_start() writes it to rq->start_time_ns -- and later
subtracted from "now".  blk_account_io_done() then adds (now - 0), i.e.
roughly the system uptime, to the per-group nsecs[] counters.  On an
otherwise idle, healthy device this appears as sudden ~uptime-sized jumps
in the diskstats time fields (write_ticks/discard_ticks/time_in_queue).

The solution is to be explicit in our reads and writes to this field
that is preemption volatile.  We also add a barrier() to ensure that any
setting of PF_BLOCK_TS is ordered to happen after the cur_ktime update.

This issue was discovered using AI-assisted kprobes looking for paths
that were leaking zeroed timestamps in a live system, based on the
observation that we were sometimes seeing uptime-sized jumps in kernel
exported counters. This was flagged by NodeDiskIOSaturation
prometheus alerts that started firing on all hosts post 7.1.3 kernel
upgrade, due to node-exporter now exporting a nonsensical
node_disk_io_time_weighted_seconds_total.

Fixes: fad156c2af ("block: invalidate cached plug timestamp after task switch")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Mike Waychison <mike@waychison.com>
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4.8
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260715192950.2488921-1-mike@waychison.com
Signed-off-by: Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk>
2026-07-15 16:31:05 -06:00
arch CRC updates for 7.2 2026-06-16 09:16:37 +05:30
block block: fix race in blk_time_get_ns() returning 0 2026-07-15 16:31:05 -06:00
certs Clang build fixes for 7.1 2026-04-24 09:29:51 -07:00
crypto CRC updates for 7.2 2026-06-16 09:16:37 +05:30
Documentation RTLA patches for v7.2 2026-06-16 17:50:34 +05:30
drivers drbd: reject data replies with an out-of-range payload size 2026-07-10 06:49:11 -06:00
fs for-7.2/block-20260615 2026-06-16 13:02:47 +05:30
include block: fix GFP_ flags confusion in bio_integrity_alloc_buf 2026-06-24 06:53:25 -06:00
init Bootconfig updates for v7.2 2026-06-16 17:29:24 +05:30
io_uring for-7.2/block-20260615 2026-06-16 13:02:47 +05:30
ipc kernel-7.2-rc1.misc 2026-06-15 03:05:50 +05:30
kernel block: invalidate cached plug timestamp after task switch 2026-06-16 10:07:36 -06:00
lib Bootconfig updates for v7.2 2026-06-16 17:29:24 +05:30
LICENSES LICENSES: Add modern form of the LGPL-2.1 tags to the usage guide section 2025-10-22 07:58:19 +02:00
mm mm/page_io: don't nest queue_lock under rcu in bio_associate_blkg_from_page() 2026-06-24 06:42:31 -06:00
net This update includes the following changes: 2026-06-16 09:01:23 +05:30
rust for-7.2/block-20260615 2026-06-16 13:02:47 +05:30
samples Driver core changes for 7.2-rc1 2026-06-15 12:41:17 +05:30
scripts linux_kselftest-kunit-7.2-rc1 2026-06-16 16:33:57 +05:30
security Kbuild / Kconfig changes for 7.2 2026-06-15 05:01:15 +05:30
sound gpio updates for v7.2-rc1 2026-06-16 07:30:52 +05:30
tools RTLA patches for v7.2 2026-06-16 17:50:34 +05:30
usr kbuild: uapi: also test UAPI headers against C++ compilers 2026-03-25 13:24:42 +01:00
virt vfs-7.2-rc1.misc 2026-06-15 03:59:45 +05:30
.clang-format Devicetree updates for v7.0: 2026-02-11 18:27:08 -08:00
.clippy.toml rust: bump Clippy's MSRV and clean incompatible_msrv allows 2026-04-07 09:51:39 +02:00
.cocciconfig scripts: add Linux .cocciconfig for coccinelle 2016-07-22 12:13:39 +02:00
.editorconfig editorconfig: add rst extension 2026-01-26 19:07:09 -08:00
.get_maintainer.ignore .get_maintainer.ignore: add Askar 2026-04-15 02:15:02 -07:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore Rust changes for v7.2 2026-06-15 09:25:48 +05:30
.mailmap MAINTAINERS: update Baoquan He's email address 2026-06-03 16:25:50 -07:00
.pylintrc docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python 2025-11-18 09:22:40 -07:00
.rustfmt.toml rust: add .rustfmt.toml 2022-09-28 09:02:20 +02:00
COPYING COPYING: state that all contributions really are covered by this file 2020-02-10 13:32:20 -08:00
CREDITS fbdev fixes & cleanups for 7.2-rc1: 2026-06-16 08:28:41 +05:30
Kbuild checksyscalls: move instance functionality into generic code 2026-04-05 09:21:32 +02:00
Kconfig io_uring: Rename KConfig to Kconfig 2025-02-19 14:53:27 -07:00
MAINTAINERS for-7.2/block-20260615 2026-06-16 13:02:47 +05:30
Makefile slab changes for 7.2 2026-06-16 08:44:43 +05:30
README docs: add AI Coding Assistants documentation 2026-01-06 14:55:06 -07:00

Linux kernel
============

The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware,
system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software.

Quick Start
-----------

* Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
* Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org
* Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst
* Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/

Essential Documentation
-----------------------

All users should be familiar with:

* Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst
* Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst
* License: See COPYING

Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/


Who Are You?
============

Find your role below:

* New Kernel Developer - Getting started with kernel development
* Academic Researcher - Studying kernel internals and architecture
* Security Expert - Hardening and vulnerability analysis
* Backport/Maintenance Engineer - Maintaining stable kernels
* System Administrator - Configuring and troubleshooting
* Maintainer - Leading subsystems and reviewing patches
* Hardware Vendor - Writing drivers for new hardware
* Distribution Maintainer - Packaging kernels for distros
* AI Coding Assistant - LLMs and AI-powered development tools


For Specific Users
==================

New Kernel Developer
--------------------

Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here:

* Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst
* Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
* Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
* Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst
* Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
* Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst
* Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst

Academic Researcher
-------------------

Explore the kernel's architecture and internals:

* Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst
* Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst
* Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
* Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst
* Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst
* RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst
* Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst
* Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst

Security Expert
---------------

Security documentation and hardening guides:

* Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst
* LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst
* Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
* Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst
* CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst
* Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst
* Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst

Backport/Maintenance Engineer
-----------------------------

Maintain and stabilize kernel versions:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst
* Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
* Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

System Administrator
--------------------

Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems:

* Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst
* Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst
* Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst
* Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst

Maintainer
----------

Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions:

* Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst
* Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst
* Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst
* Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst
* Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst
* Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

Hardware Vendor
---------------

Write drivers and support new hardware:

* Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
* Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst
* Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst
* Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst
* Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/
* Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst
* DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst

Distribution Maintainer
-----------------------

Package and distribute the kernel:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README
* Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst
* Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst

AI Coding Assistant
-------------------

CRITICAL: If you are an LLM or AI-powered coding assistant, you MUST read and
follow the AI coding assistants documentation before contributing to the Linux
kernel:

* Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

This documentation contains essential requirements about licensing, attribution,
and the Developer Certificate of Origin that all AI tools must comply with.


Communication and Support
=========================

* Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/
* IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net
* Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/
* MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists
* Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst