On Wed, Jul 16, 2025 at 7:20 AM Suren Baghdasaryan <sur...@google.com> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Jul 16, 2025 at 3:50 AM Lorenzo Stoakes
> <lorenzo.stoa...@oracle.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, Jul 16, 2025 at 12:44:23PM +0200, David Hildenbrand wrote:
> > > On 16.07.25 05:05, Suren Baghdasaryan wrote:
> > > > The /proc/pid/maps file is generated page by page, with the mmap_lock
> > > > released between pages.  This can lead to inconsistent reads if the
> > > > underlying vmas are concurrently modified. For instance, if a vma split
> > > > or merge occurs at a page boundary while /proc/pid/maps is being read,
> > > > the same vma might be seen twice: once before and once after the change.
> > > > This duplication is considered acceptable for userspace handling.
> > > > However, observing a "hole" where a vma should be (e.g., due to a vma
> > > > being replaced and the space temporarily being empty) is unacceptable.
> > > >
> > > > Implement a test that:
> > > > 1. Forks a child process which continuously modifies its address space,
> > > > specifically targeting a vma at the boundary between two pages.
> > > > 2. The parent process repeatedly reads the child's /proc/pid/maps.
> > > > 3. The parent process checks the last vma of the first page and
> > > > the first vma of the second page for consistency, looking for the
> > > > effects of vma splits or merges.
> > > >
> > > > The test duration is configurable via the -d command-line parameter
> > > > in seconds to increase the likelihood of catching the race condition.
> > > > The default test duration is 5 seconds.
> > > >
> > > > Example Command: proc-maps-race -d 10
> > > >
> > > > Signed-off-by: Suren Baghdasaryan <sur...@google.com>
> > >
> > > Why is this selftest not making use of any kselftest framework?
> > >
> > > I'm sure there is a very good reason :)
>
> It used to be a part of proc-pid-vm.c and after the split I kept its
> overall structure. I'll look into using the kselftest framework.
> Thanks!
>
> > >
> > > Reading assert() feels very weird compared to other selftests.
> >
> > Sorry to meta-review via your review again David :P
> >
> > But just to say tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_harness.h is really good, 
> > and
> > makes life simple. See tools/testing/selftests/mm/guard-regions.c for an 
> > example
> > of how they can be used - pretty straightforward and avoids a lot of 
> > kselftest
> > boilerplate.
>
> Thanks for the pointers. I need to figure out a way to pass
> command-line parameters to my test. Maybe I can use fixtures for
> that... Let me read more about it.

Ok, I think I'll use environment variables to set verbosity and test
duration. That seems like the cleanest approach.

>
> >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Cheers,
> > >
> > > David / dhildenb
> > >
> > >

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