From: Aneesh Kumar K.V Subject: [PATCH] ext4: Don't use the range_cylic mode implemented by write_cache_pages With delayed allocation we lock the page in write_cache_pages and try to build an in memory extent of contiguous blocks. This is needed so that we can get large contiguous blocks request. Now with range_cyclic mode in write_cache_pages if we have not done an I/O we loop back to 0 index and try to write the page. That would imply we will attempt to take page lock of lower index page holding the page lock of higher index page. This can cause a dead lock with other writeback thread. Signed-off-by: Aneesh Kumar K.V --- fs/ext4/inode.c | 20 ++++++++++++++++++-- 1 files changed, 18 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) Index: linux-2.6.28.x86_64/fs/ext4/inode.c =================================================================== --- linux-2.6.28.x86_64.orig/fs/ext4/inode.c +++ linux-2.6.28.x86_64/fs/ext4/inode.c @@ -2437,6 +2437,7 @@ static int ext4_da_writepages(struct add int no_nrwrite_index_update; int pages_written = 0; long pages_skipped; + int range_cyclic = 0, cycled = 1, io_done = 0; int needed_blocks, ret = 0, nr_to_writebump = 0; struct ext4_sb_info *sbi = EXT4_SB(mapping->host->i_sb); @@ -2488,9 +2489,14 @@ static int ext4_da_writepages(struct add if (wbc->range_start == 0 && wbc->range_end == LLONG_MAX) range_whole = 1; - if (wbc->range_cyclic) + if (wbc->range_cyclic) { index = mapping->writeback_index; - else + wbc->range_start = index << PAGE_CACHE_SHIFT; + wbc->range_end = LLONG_MAX; + wbc->range_cyclic = 0; + range_cyclic = 1; + cycled = 0; + } else index = wbc->range_start >> PAGE_CACHE_SHIFT; mpd.wbc = wbc; @@ -2504,6 +2510,7 @@ static int ext4_da_writepages(struct add wbc->no_nrwrite_index_update = 1; pages_skipped = wbc->pages_skipped; +retry: while (!ret && wbc->nr_to_write > 0) { /* @@ -2546,6 +2553,7 @@ static int ext4_da_writepages(struct add pages_written += mpd.pages_written; wbc->pages_skipped = pages_skipped; ret = 0; + io_done = 1; } else if (wbc->nr_to_write) /* * There is no more writeout needed @@ -2554,6 +2562,13 @@ static int ext4_da_writepages(struct add */ break; } + if (!io_done && !cycled) { + cycled = 1; + index = 0; + wbc->range_start = index << PAGE_CACHE_SHIFT; + wbc->range_end = mapping->writeback_index - 1; + goto retry; + } if (pages_skipped != wbc->pages_skipped) printk(KERN_EMERG "This should not happen leaving %s " "with nr_to_write = %ld ret = %d\n", @@ -2561,6 +2576,7 @@ static int ext4_da_writepages(struct add /* Update index */ index += pages_written; + wbc->range_cyclic = range_cyclic; if (wbc->range_cyclic || (range_whole && wbc->nr_to_write > 0)) /* * set the writeback_index so that range_cyclic