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diff --git a/Documentation/power/freezing-of-tasks.txt b/Documentation/power/freezing-of-tasks.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cd283190855a..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/power/freezing-of-tasks.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,231 +0,0 @@ -Freezing of tasks - (C) 2007 Rafael J. Wysocki <rjw@sisk.pl>, GPL - -I. What is the freezing of tasks? - -The freezing of tasks is a mechanism by which user space processes and some -kernel threads are controlled during hibernation or system-wide suspend (on some -architectures). - -II. How does it work? - -There are three per-task flags used for that, PF_NOFREEZE, PF_FROZEN -and PF_FREEZER_SKIP (the last one is auxiliary). The tasks that have -PF_NOFREEZE unset (all user space processes and some kernel threads) are -regarded as 'freezable' and treated in a special way before the system enters a -suspend state as well as before a hibernation image is created (in what follows -we only consider hibernation, but the description also applies to suspend). - -Namely, as the first step of the hibernation procedure the function -freeze_processes() (defined in kernel/power/process.c) is called. A system-wide -variable system_freezing_cnt (as opposed to a per-task flag) is used to indicate -whether the system is to undergo a freezing operation. And freeze_processes() -sets this variable. After this, it executes try_to_freeze_tasks() that sends a -fake signal to all user space processes, and wakes up all the kernel threads. -All freezable tasks must react to that by calling try_to_freeze(), which -results in a call to __refrigerator() (defined in kernel/freezer.c), which sets -the task's PF_FROZEN flag, changes its state to TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE and makes -it loop until PF_FROZEN is cleared for it. Then, we say that the task is -'frozen' and therefore the set of functions handling this mechanism is referred -to as 'the freezer' (these functions are defined in kernel/power/process.c, -kernel/freezer.c & include/linux/freezer.h). User space processes are generally -frozen before kernel threads. - -__refrigerator() must not be called directly. Instead, use the -try_to_freeze() function (defined in include/linux/freezer.h), that checks -if the task is to be frozen and makes the task enter __refrigerator(). - -For user space processes try_to_freeze() is called automatically from the -signal-handling code, but the freezable kernel threads need to call it -explicitly in suitable places or use the wait_event_freezable() or -wait_event_freezable_timeout() macros (defined in include/linux/freezer.h) -that combine interruptible sleep with checking if the task is to be frozen and -calling try_to_freeze(). The main loop of a freezable kernel thread may look -like the following one: - - set_freezable(); - do { - hub_events(); - wait_event_freezable(khubd_wait, - !list_empty(&hub_event_list) || - kthread_should_stop()); - } while (!kthread_should_stop() || !list_empty(&hub_event_list)); - -(from drivers/usb/core/hub.c::hub_thread()). - -If a freezable kernel thread fails to call try_to_freeze() after the freezer has -initiated a freezing operation, the freezing of tasks will fail and the entire -hibernation operation will be cancelled. For this reason, freezable kernel -threads must call try_to_freeze() somewhere or use one of the -wait_event_freezable() and wait_event_freezable_timeout() macros. - -After the system memory state has been restored from a hibernation image and -devices have been reinitialized, the function thaw_processes() is called in -order to clear the PF_FROZEN flag for each frozen task. Then, the tasks that -have been frozen leave __refrigerator() and continue running. - - -Rationale behind the functions dealing with freezing and thawing of tasks: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -freeze_processes(): - - freezes only userspace tasks - -freeze_kernel_threads(): - - freezes all tasks (including kernel threads) because we can't freeze - kernel threads without freezing userspace tasks - -thaw_kernel_threads(): - - thaws only kernel threads; this is particularly useful if we need to do - anything special in between thawing of kernel threads and thawing of - userspace tasks, or if we want to postpone the thawing of userspace tasks - -thaw_processes(): - - thaws all tasks (including kernel threads) because we can't thaw userspace - tasks without thawing kernel threads - - -III. Which kernel threads are freezable? - -Kernel threads are not freezable by default. However, a kernel thread may clear -PF_NOFREEZE for itself by calling set_freezable() (the resetting of PF_NOFREEZE -directly is not allowed). From this point it is regarded as freezable -and must call try_to_freeze() in a suitable place. - -IV. Why do we do that? - -Generally speaking, there is a couple of reasons to use the freezing of tasks: - -1. The principal reason is to prevent filesystems from being damaged after -hibernation. At the moment we have no simple means of checkpointing -filesystems, so if there are any modifications made to filesystem data and/or -metadata on disks, we cannot bring them back to the state from before the -modifications. At the same time each hibernation image contains some -filesystem-related information that must be consistent with the state of the -on-disk data and metadata after the system memory state has been restored from -the image (otherwise the filesystems will be damaged in a nasty way, usually -making them almost impossible to repair). We therefore freeze tasks that might -cause the on-disk filesystems' data and metadata to be modified after the -hibernation image has been created and before the system is finally powered off. -The majority of these are user space processes, but if any of the kernel threads -may cause something like this to happen, they have to be freezable. - -2. Next, to create the hibernation image we need to free a sufficient amount of -memory (approximately 50% of available RAM) and we need to do that before -devices are deactivated, because we generally need them for swapping out. Then, -after the memory for the image has been freed, we don't want tasks to allocate -additional memory and we prevent them from doing that by freezing them earlier. -[Of course, this also means that device drivers should not allocate substantial -amounts of memory from their .suspend() callbacks before hibernation, but this -is a separate issue.] - -3. The third reason is to prevent user space processes and some kernel threads -from interfering with the suspending and resuming of devices. A user space -process running on a second CPU while we are suspending devices may, for -example, be troublesome and without the freezing of tasks we would need some -safeguards against race conditions that might occur in such a case. - -Although Linus Torvalds doesn't like the freezing of tasks, he said this in one -of the discussions on LKML (http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/4/27/608): - -"RJW:> Why we freeze tasks at all or why we freeze kernel threads? - -Linus: In many ways, 'at all'. - -I _do_ realize the IO request queue issues, and that we cannot actually do -s2ram with some devices in the middle of a DMA. So we want to be able to -avoid *that*, there's no question about that. And I suspect that stopping -user threads and then waiting for a sync is practically one of the easier -ways to do so. - -So in practice, the 'at all' may become a 'why freeze kernel threads?' and -freezing user threads I don't find really objectionable." - -Still, there are kernel threads that may want to be freezable. For example, if -a kernel thread that belongs to a device driver accesses the device directly, it -in principle needs to know when the device is suspended, so that it doesn't try -to access it at that time. However, if the kernel thread is freezable, it will -be frozen before the driver's .suspend() callback is executed and it will be -thawed after the driver's .resume() callback has run, so it won't be accessing -the device while it's suspended. - -4. Another reason for freezing tasks is to prevent user space processes from -realizing that hibernation (or suspend) operation takes place. Ideally, user -space processes should not notice that such a system-wide operation has occurred -and should continue running without any problems after the restore (or resume -from suspend). Unfortunately, in the most general case this is quite difficult -to achieve without the freezing of tasks. Consider, for example, a process -that depends on all CPUs being online while it's running. Since we need to -disable nonboot CPUs during the hibernation, if this process is not frozen, it -may notice that the number of CPUs has changed and may start to work incorrectly -because of that. - -V. Are there any problems related to the freezing of tasks? - -Yes, there are. - -First of all, the freezing of kernel threads may be tricky if they depend one -on another. For example, if kernel thread A waits for a completion (in the -TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE state) that needs to be done by freezable kernel thread B -and B is frozen in the meantime, then A will be blocked until B is thawed, which -may be undesirable. That's why kernel threads are not freezable by default. - -Second, there are the following two problems related to the freezing of user -space processes: -1. Putting processes into an uninterruptible sleep distorts the load average. -2. Now that we have FUSE, plus the framework for doing device drivers in -userspace, it gets even more complicated because some userspace processes are -now doing the sorts of things that kernel threads do -(https://lists.linux-foundation.org/pipermail/linux-pm/2007-May/012309.html). - -The problem 1. seems to be fixable, although it hasn't been fixed so far. The -other one is more serious, but it seems that we can work around it by using -hibernation (and suspend) notifiers (in that case, though, we won't be able to -avoid the realization by the user space processes that the hibernation is taking -place). - -There are also problems that the freezing of tasks tends to expose, although -they are not directly related to it. For example, if request_firmware() is -called from a device driver's .resume() routine, it will timeout and eventually -fail, because the user land process that should respond to the request is frozen -at this point. So, seemingly, the failure is due to the freezing of tasks. -Suppose, however, that the firmware file is located on a filesystem accessible -only through another device that hasn't been resumed yet. In that case, -request_firmware() will fail regardless of whether or not the freezing of tasks -is used. Consequently, the problem is not really related to the freezing of -tasks, since it generally exists anyway. - -A driver must have all firmwares it may need in RAM before suspend() is called. -If keeping them is not practical, for example due to their size, they must be -requested early enough using the suspend notifier API described in -Documentation/driver-api/pm/notifiers.rst. - -VI. Are there any precautions to be taken to prevent freezing failures? - -Yes, there are. - -First of all, grabbing the 'system_transition_mutex' lock to mutually exclude a piece of code -from system-wide sleep such as suspend/hibernation is not encouraged. -If possible, that piece of code must instead hook onto the suspend/hibernation -notifiers to achieve mutual exclusion. Look at the CPU-Hotplug code -(kernel/cpu.c) for an example. - -However, if that is not feasible, and grabbing 'system_transition_mutex' is deemed necessary, -it is strongly discouraged to directly call mutex_[un]lock(&system_transition_mutex) since -that could lead to freezing failures, because if the suspend/hibernate code -successfully acquired the 'system_transition_mutex' lock, and hence that other entity failed -to acquire the lock, then that task would get blocked in TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE -state. As a consequence, the freezer would not be able to freeze that task, -leading to freezing failure. - -However, the [un]lock_system_sleep() APIs are safe to use in this scenario, -since they ask the freezer to skip freezing this task, since it is anyway -"frozen enough" as it is blocked on 'system_transition_mutex', which will be released -only after the entire suspend/hibernation sequence is complete. -So, to summarize, use [un]lock_system_sleep() instead of directly using -mutex_[un]lock(&system_transition_mutex). That would prevent freezing failures. - -V. Miscellaneous -/sys/power/pm_freeze_timeout controls how long it will cost at most to freeze -all user space processes or all freezable kernel threads, in unit of millisecond. -The default value is 20000, with range of unsigned integer. |