Re: [PATCH v8 0/2] hung_task: Improve warning budget handling and task reporting

On Fri, Aug 07, 2026 at 12:40:27PM +0800, Lance Yang wrote:
> >Yes; READ_ONCE() and WRITE_ONCE() guarantee single-copy load/store
> >atomicity to prevent compiler optimisations. However, I agree, they do not
> >establish a critical section or serialise multi-step operations across
> >variables 'sysctl_hung_task_warnings' and 'hung_task_warnings_printed'.
> >How about the following?
> 
> Still races with khungtaskd ... It can read 10, sysctl resets budget
> to 0, then khungtaskd writes 9 back. We end up with sysctl at 0 and
> runtime budget at 9 :)

Yes, hung_task_sysctl_mutex does not fix the race because khungtaskd
operates outside the mutex; hung_task_info() is called inside
check_hung_uninterruptible_tasks() while holding rcu_read_lock().

> Let's keep it simpler: make khungtaskd sole owner of
> hung_task_warnings_printed. Sysctl write just sets a reset flag:
> 
> static atomic_t reset_hung_task_warnings = ATOMIC_INIT(0);
> 
> ...
> 
> static int proc_dohung_task_warnings(const struct ctl_table *table, int write,
> ...
> {	ret = proc_dointvec_minmax(table, write, buffer, lenp, ppos);
> 	if (!ret && write)
> 		atomic_set_release(&reset_hung_task_warnings, 1);
> ...
> }
> 
> khungtaskd picks it up next scan:
> 
> 	if (atomic_xchg(&reset_hung_task_warnings, 0))
> 		hung_task_warnings_printed =
> 			READ_ONCE(sysctl_hung_task_warnings);
> 
> 
> That's it. Only khungtaskd touches runtime budget, so no lock needed
> there. Write during a scan takes effect next scan, keeping whole scan
> on one budget. Multiple writes collapse into one reset, and writing
> same value still refills budget.

This looks good!

> diff --git a/kernel/hung_task.c b/kernel/hung_task.c
> index 6ebb3a87ac65..ea7817e1856b 100644
> --- a/kernel/hung_task.c
> +++ b/kernel/hung_task.c
> @@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ static unsigned long __read_mostly sysctl_hung_task_check_interval_secs;
>  static int __read_mostly sysctl_hung_task_warnings = 10;
> 
>  static int hung_task_warnings_printed = 10;
> +static atomic_t reset_hung_task_warnings = ATOMIC_INIT(0);
> 
>  static int __read_mostly did_panic;
>  static bool hung_task_call_panic;
> @@ -244,11 +245,6 @@ static void hung_task_info(struct task_struct *t, unsigned long timeout,
>  		hung_task_call_panic = true;
>  	}
> 
> -	/* Always print the blocked message */
> -	pr_err("INFO: task %s:%d blocked%s for more than %ld seconds.\n",
> -	       t->comm, t->pid, t->in_iowait ? " in I/O wait" : "",
> -	       (jiffies - t->last_switch_time) / HZ);
> -
>  	/*
>  	 * The given task did not get scheduled for more than
>  	 * CONFIG_DEFAULT_HUNG_TASK_TIMEOUT. Therefore, complain
> @@ -257,6 +253,10 @@ static void hung_task_info(struct task_struct *t, unsigned long timeout,
>  	if (hung_task_warnings_printed || hung_task_call_panic) {
>  		if (hung_task_warnings_printed > 0)
>  			hung_task_warnings_printed--;
> +		pr_err("INFO: task %s:%d blocked%s for more than %ld seconds.\n",
> +		       t->comm, t->pid,
> +		       t->in_iowait ? " in I/O wait" : "",
> +		       (jiffies - t->last_switch_time) / HZ);
>  		pr_err("      %s %s %.*s\n",
>  			print_tainted(), init_utsname()->release,
>  			(int)strcspn(init_utsname()->version, " "),
> @@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ static void check_hung_uninterruptible_tasks(unsigned long timeout)
>  	unsigned long last_break = jiffies;
>  	struct task_struct *g, *t;
>  	unsigned long this_round_count;
> -	int need_warning = hung_task_warnings_printed;
> +	int need_warning;
>  	unsigned long si_mask = hung_task_si_mask;
> 
>  	/*
> @@ -318,6 +318,11 @@ static void check_hung_uninterruptible_tasks(unsigned long timeout)
>  	if (test_taint(TAINT_DIE) || did_panic)
>  		return;
> 
> +	if (atomic_xchg(&reset_hung_task_warnings, 0))
> +		hung_task_warnings_printed =
> +			READ_ONCE(sysctl_hung_task_warnings);
> +	need_warning = hung_task_warnings_printed;
> +
>  	this_round_count = 0;
>  	rcu_read_lock();
>  	for_each_process_thread(g, t) {
> @@ -345,10 +350,15 @@ static void check_hung_uninterruptible_tasks(unsigned long timeout)
>  	rcu_read_unlock();
> 
>  	if (!this_round_count) {
> -		hung_task_warnings_printed = sysctl_hung_task_warnings;
> +		hung_task_warnings_printed =
> +			READ_ONCE(sysctl_hung_task_warnings);
>  		return;
>  	}
> 
> +	if (!hung_task_warnings_printed && !hung_task_call_panic)
> +		pr_info("khungtaskd: %lu hung tasks detected (warning budget exhausted)\n",
> +			this_round_count);
> +
>  	if (need_warning || hung_task_call_panic) {
>  		si_mask |= SYS_INFO_LOCKS;
> 
> @@ -438,13 +448,10 @@ static int proc_dohung_task_warnings(const struct ctl_table *table, int write,
>  	int ret;
> 
>  	ret = proc_dointvec_minmax(table, write, buffer, lenp, ppos);
> +	if (!ret && write)
> +		atomic_set_release(&reset_hung_task_warnings, 1);
> 
> -	if (ret || !write)
> -		return ret;
> -
> -	hung_task_warnings_printed = sysctl_hung_task_warnings;
> -
> -	return 0;
> +	return ret;
>  }
> 
>  /*
> ---
> 

I like this implementation. Also the self-healing: if !this_round_count
triggers an early return, hung_task_warnings_printed is set to
READ_ONCE(sysctl_hung_task_warnings). Even if reset_hung_task_warnings
remained 1 due to a concurrent write during the scan, atomic_xchg() will
simply absorb it on the next round without any ill side effects.

I will incorporate these changes.


Kind regards,
-- 
Aaron Tomlin