kernfs, sysfs, driver-core: implement kernfs_remove_self() and its wrappers

Sometimes it's necessary to implement a node which wants to delete
nodes including itself.  This isn't straightforward because of kernfs
active reference.  While a file operation is in progress, an active
reference is held and kernfs_remove() waits for all such references to
drain before completing.  For a self-deleting node, this is a deadlock
as kernfs_remove() ends up waiting for an active reference that itself
is sitting on top of.

This currently is worked around in the sysfs layer using
sysfs_schedule_callback() which makes such removals asynchronous.
While it works, it's rather cumbersome and inherently breaks
synchronicity of the operation - the file operation which triggered
the operation may complete before the removal is finished (or even
started) and the removal may fail asynchronously.  If a removal
operation is immmediately followed by another operation which expects
the specific name to be available (e.g. removal followed by rename
onto the same name), there's no way to make the latter operation
reliable.

The thing is there's no inherent reason for this to be asynchrnous.
All that's necessary to do this synchronous is a dedicated operation
which drops its own active ref and deactivates self.  This patch
implements kernfs_remove_self() and its wrappers in sysfs and driver
core.  kernfs_remove_self() is to be called from one of the file
operations, drops the active ref and deactivates using
__kernfs_deactivate_self(), removes the self node, and restores active
ref to the dead node using __kernfs_reactivate_self() so that the ref
is balanced afterwards.  __kernfs_remove() is updated so that it takes
an early exit if the target node is already fully removed so that the
active ref restored by kernfs_remove_self() after removal doesn't
confuse the deactivation path.

This makes implementing self-deleting nodes very easy.  The normal
removal path doesn't even need to be changed to use
kernfs_remove_self() for the self-deleting node.  The method can
invoke kernfs_remove_self() on itself before proceeding the normal
removal path.  kernfs_remove() invoked on the node by the normal
deletion path will simply be ignored.

This will replace sysfs_schedule_callback().  A subtle feature of
sysfs_schedule_callback() is that it collapses multiple invocations -
even if multiple removals are triggered, the removal callback is run
only once.  An equivalent effect can be achieved by testing the return
value of kernfs_remove_self() - only the one which gets %true return
value should proceed with actual deletion.  All other instances of
kernfs_remove_self() will wait till the enclosing kernfs operation
which invoked the winning instance of kernfs_remove_self() finishes
and then return %false.  This trivially makes all users of
kernfs_remove_self() automatically show correct synchronous behavior
even when there are multiple concurrent operations - all "echo 1 >
delete" instances will finish only after the whole operation is
completed by one of the instances.

v2: For !CONFIG_SYSFS, dummy version kernfs_remove_self() was missing
    and sysfs_remove_file_self() had incorrect return type.  Fix it.
    Reported by kbuild test bot.

v3: Updated to use __kernfs_{de|re}activate_self().

Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
Cc: Alan Stern <stern@rowland.harvard.edu>
Cc: kbuild test robot <fengguang.wu@intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>

drivers/base/core.c

@@ -570,6 +570,23 @@ void device_remove_file(struct device *dev,
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(device_remove_file);
 
+/**
+ * device_remove_file_self - remove sysfs attribute file from its own method.
+ * @dev: device.
+ * @attr: device attribute descriptor.
+ *
+ * See kernfs_remove_self() for details.
+ */
+bool device_remove_file_self(struct device *dev,
+			     const struct device_attribute *attr)
+{
+	if (dev)
+		return sysfs_remove_file_self(&dev->kobj, &attr->attr);
+	else
+		return false;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(device_remove_file_self);
+
 /**
  * device_create_bin_file - create sysfs binary attribute file for device.
  * @dev: device.

fs/kernfs/dir.c

@@ -985,6 +985,78 @@ void kernfs_remove(struct kernfs_node *kn)
 	mutex_unlock(&kernfs_mutex);
 }
 
+/**
+ * kernfs_remove_self - remove a kernfs_node from its own method
+ * @kn: the self kernfs_node to remove
+ *
+ * The caller must be running off of a kernfs operation which is invoked
+ * with an active reference - e.g. one of kernfs_ops.  This can be used to
+ * implement a file operation which deletes itself.
+ *
+ * For example, the "delete" file for a sysfs device directory can be
+ * implemented by invoking kernfs_remove_self() on the "delete" file
+ * itself.  This function breaks the circular dependency of trying to
+ * deactivate self while holding an active ref itself.  It isn't necessary
+ * to modify the usual removal path to use kernfs_remove_self().  The
+ * "delete" implementation can simply invoke kernfs_remove_self() on self
+ * before proceeding with the usual removal path.  kernfs will ignore later
+ * kernfs_remove() on self.
+ *
+ * kernfs_remove_self() can be called multiple times concurrently on the
+ * same kernfs_node.  Only the first one actually performs removal and
+ * returns %true.  All others will wait until the kernfs operation which
+ * won self-removal finishes and return %false.  Note that the losers wait
+ * for the completion of not only the winning kernfs_remove_self() but also
+ * the whole kernfs_ops which won the arbitration.  This can be used to
+ * guarantee, for example, all concurrent writes to a "delete" file to
+ * finish only after the whole operation is complete.
+ */
+bool kernfs_remove_self(struct kernfs_node *kn)
+{
+	bool ret;
+
+	mutex_lock(&kernfs_mutex);
+	__kernfs_deactivate_self(kn);
+
+	/*
+	 * SUICIDAL is used to arbitrate among competing invocations.  Only
+	 * the first one will actually perform removal.  When the removal
+	 * is complete, SUICIDED is set and the active ref is restored
+	 * while holding kernfs_mutex.  The ones which lost arbitration
+	 * waits for SUICDED && drained which can happen only after the
+	 * enclosing kernfs operation which executed the winning instance
+	 * of kernfs_remove_self() finished.
+	 */
+	if (!(kn->flags & KERNFS_SUICIDAL)) {
+		kn->flags |= KERNFS_SUICIDAL;
+		__kernfs_remove(kn);
+		kn->flags |= KERNFS_SUICIDED;
+		ret = true;
+	} else {
+		wait_queue_head_t *waitq = &kernfs_root(kn)->deactivate_waitq;
+		DEFINE_WAIT(wait);
+
+		while (true) {
+			prepare_to_wait(waitq, &wait, TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE);
+
+			if ((kn->flags & KERNFS_SUICIDED) &&
+			    atomic_read(&kn->active) == KN_DEACTIVATED_BIAS)
+				break;
+
+			mutex_unlock(&kernfs_mutex);
+			schedule();
+			mutex_lock(&kernfs_mutex);
+		}
+		finish_wait(waitq, &wait);
+		WARN_ON_ONCE(!RB_EMPTY_NODE(&kn->rb));
+		ret = false;
+	}
+
+	__kernfs_reactivate_self(kn);
+	mutex_unlock(&kernfs_mutex);
+	return ret;
+}
+
 /**
  * kernfs_remove_by_name_ns - find a kernfs_node by name and remove it
  * @parent: parent of the target

fs/sysfs/file.c

@@ -372,6 +372,29 @@ void sysfs_remove_file_ns(struct kobject *kobj, const struct attribute *attr,
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(sysfs_remove_file_ns);
 
+/**
+ * sysfs_remove_file_self - remove an object attribute from its own method
+ * @kobj: object we're acting for
+ * @attr: attribute descriptor
+ *
+ * See kernfs_remove_self() for details.
+ */
+bool sysfs_remove_file_self(struct kobject *kobj, const struct attribute *attr)
+{
+	struct kernfs_node *parent = kobj->sd;
+	struct kernfs_node *kn;
+	bool ret;
+
+	kn = kernfs_find_and_get(parent, attr->name);
+	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!kn))
+		return false;
+
+	ret = kernfs_remove_self(kn);
+
+	kernfs_put(kn);
+	return ret;
+}
+
 void sysfs_remove_files(struct kobject *kobj, const struct attribute **ptr)
 {
 	int i;

include/linux/device.h

@@ -560,6 +560,8 @@ extern int device_create_file(struct device *device,
 			      const struct device_attribute *entry);
 extern void device_remove_file(struct device *dev,
 			       const struct device_attribute *attr);
+extern bool device_remove_file_self(struct device *dev,
+				    const struct device_attribute *attr);
 extern int __must_check device_create_bin_file(struct device *dev,
 					const struct bin_attribute *attr);
 extern void device_remove_bin_file(struct device *dev,

include/linux/kernfs.h

@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ enum kernfs_node_flag {
 	KERNFS_HAS_MMAP		= 0x0080,
 	KERNFS_LOCKDEP		= 0x0100,
 	KERNFS_STATIC_NAME	= 0x0200,
+	KERNFS_SUICIDAL		= 0x0400,
+	KERNFS_SUICIDED		= 0x0800,
 };
 
 /* type-specific structures for kernfs_node union members */
@@ -239,6 +241,7 @@ void kernfs_reactivate(struct kernfs_node *kn);
 void kernfs_deactivate_self(struct kernfs_node *kn);
 void kernfs_reactivate_self(struct kernfs_node *kn);
 void kernfs_remove(struct kernfs_node *kn);
+bool kernfs_remove_self(struct kernfs_node *kn);
 int kernfs_remove_by_name_ns(struct kernfs_node *parent, const char *name,
 			     const void *ns);
 int kernfs_rename_ns(struct kernfs_node *kn, struct kernfs_node *new_parent,
@@ -296,6 +299,9 @@ kernfs_create_link(struct kernfs_node *parent, const char *name,
 
 static inline void kernfs_remove(struct kernfs_node *kn) { }
 
+static inline bool kernfs_remove_self(struct kernfs_node *kn)
+{ return false; }
+
 static inline int kernfs_remove_by_name_ns(struct kernfs_node *kn,
 					   const char *name, const void *ns)
 { return -ENOSYS; }

include/linux/sysfs.h

@@ -198,6 +198,7 @@ int __must_check sysfs_chmod_file(struct kobject *kobj,
 				  const struct attribute *attr, umode_t mode);
 void sysfs_remove_file_ns(struct kobject *kobj, const struct attribute *attr,
 			  const void *ns);
+bool sysfs_remove_file_self(struct kobject *kobj, const struct attribute *attr);
 void sysfs_remove_files(struct kobject *kobj, const struct attribute **attr);
 
 int __must_check sysfs_create_bin_file(struct kobject *kobj,
@@ -301,6 +302,12 @@ static inline void sysfs_remove_file_ns(struct kobject *kobj,
 {
 }
 
+static inline bool sysfs_remove_file_self(struct kobject *kobj,
+					  const struct attribute *attr)
+{
+	return false;
+}
+
 static inline void sysfs_remove_files(struct kobject *kobj,
 				     const struct attribute **attr)
 {