Linux kernel source tree
Go to file
Boris Burkov 975e63c7a8 btrfs: always drop root->inodes lock before cond_resched()
find_first_inode() and find_first_inode_to_shrink() lock root->inodes,
then loop over them, occasionally skipping some inodes. When they skip
an inode, they attempt to share the cpu/lock with cond_resched_lock().

However, that has a subtle problem associated with it.
cond_resched_lock() only drops the lock if it needs to actually call
schedule(). With CONFIG_PREEMPT_NONE, this means the full timeslice as
detected at ticks. With 8+ cpus and default tunables, this is 2.8ms. So
regardless of HZ, we will run for at least 2.8ms in this loop without
dropping the lock, assuming it finds no suitable inodes. If HZ is
small enough, it might be even worse as the tick granularity becomes
bigger than the timeslice.

The knock-on effect of this is that callers to
btrfs_del_inode_from_root() like kswapd trying to shrink the inode slab
or userspace threads calling evict() will spin on xa_lock(&root->inodes)
for 2.8ms, so the extent map shrinker dominates the lock even though
ostensibly it is intending to share it. This produces memory pressure as
there is only one kswapd and it runs sequentially so it can get stuck in
the inode slab shrinking.

To fix it, simply replace cond_resched_lock() with an open coded variant
which unconditionally does unlock/lock around cond_resched. Sharing the
lock is decoupled from sharing the CPU, and all the users of the lock
now share it fairly.

I was able to reproduce this on test systems by producing a lot of empty
files (to make a big root->inodes xarray), then producing memory
pressure by reading large files larger than ram, triggering kswapd and
the extent_map shrinker. The lock contention is visible with perf or
lockstat. This patch also relieved a user-apparent bottleneck on a
production system from the original report.

Tested-by: Rik van Riel <riel@surriel.com>
Reviewed-by: Filipe Manana <fdmanana@suse.com>
Signed-off-by: Boris Burkov <boris@bur.io>
Signed-off-by: David Sterba <dsterba@suse.com>
2026-05-16 03:06:56 +02:00
arch RISC-V updates for v7.0-rc7 2026-04-05 14:43:47 -07:00
block block-7.0-20260305 2026-03-06 08:36:18 -08:00
certs Convert 'alloc_obj' family to use the new default GFP_KERNEL argument 2026-02-21 17:09:51 -08:00
crypto This push contains the following changes: 2026-04-02 17:29:48 -07:00
Documentation Char/misc/iio driver fixes for 7.0-rc7 2026-04-05 10:09:33 -07:00
drivers RISC-V updates for v7.0-rc7 2026-04-05 14:43:47 -07:00
fs btrfs: always drop root->inodes lock before cond_resched() 2026-05-16 03:06:56 +02:00
include btrfs: tracepoints: fix sleep while in atomic context in btrfs_sync_file() 2026-05-08 00:31:37 +02:00
init hardening fixes for v7.0-rc6 2026-03-25 14:47:18 -07:00
io_uring io_uring-7.0-20260403 2026-04-03 11:58:04 -07:00
ipc Convert 'alloc_obj' family to use the new default GFP_KERNEL argument 2026-02-21 17:09:51 -08:00
kernel Misc scheduler fixes: 2026-04-05 13:45:37 -07:00
lib Crypto library fixes for v7.0-rc7 2026-03-30 13:40:48 -07:00
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 Miscellaneous futex fixes: 2026-03-29 09:59:46 -07:00
net bpf-fixes 2026-04-02 18:59:56 -07:00
rust rust: regulator: do not assume that regulator_get() returns non-null 2026-03-24 13:08:21 +00:00
samples Landlock fix for v7.0-rc6 2026-03-26 12:03:37 -07:00
scripts hardening fixes for v7.0-rc6 2026-03-25 14:47:18 -07:00
security Landlock fix for v7.0-rc6 2026-03-26 12:03:37 -07:00
sound USB/Thunderbolt fixes for 7.0-rc7 2026-04-05 10:00:26 -07:00
tools RISC-V updates for v7.0-rc7 2026-04-05 14:43:47 -07:00
usr kbuild: uapi: drop dependency on CC_CAN_LINK 2026-01-16 15:02:11 -07:00
virt KVM generic changes for 7.0 2026-03-11 18:01:55 +01:00
.clang-format Devicetree updates for v7.0: 2026-02-11 18:27:08 -08:00
.clippy.toml rust: clean Rust 1.88.0's warning about clippy::disallowed_macros configuration 2025-05-07 00:11:47 +02:00
.cocciconfig
.editorconfig editorconfig: add rst extension 2026-01-26 19:07:09 -08:00
.get_maintainer.ignore .get_maintainer.ignore: add myself 2026-04-02 16:48:25 +02:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore rust: kbuild: add proc macro library support 2025-11-24 17:15:36 +01:00
.mailmap MAINTAINERS, mailmap: update email address for Harry Yoo 2026-03-27 20:48:37 -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 MAINTAINERS: remove Thomas Falcon from IBM ibmvnic 2026-03-05 07:35:45 -08:00
Kbuild sched: Make migrate_{en,dis}able() inline 2025-09-25 09:57:16 +02:00
Kconfig io_uring: Rename KConfig to Kconfig 2025-02-19 14:53:27 -07:00
MAINTAINERS i2c-for-7.0-rc6 2026-03-29 12:27:13 -07:00
Makefile Linux 7.0-rc7 2026-04-05 15:26:23 -07:00
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