2008-12-03 14:12:15

by Peter Teoh

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Kernel Error Message: modprobe used greatest stack depth

In less than 6 hours since I turned on the machine I have been getting
these message (spread over different times) in my dmesg:

Machine A (AMD Athlon 4200, 3G RAM):

khelper used greatest stack depth: 7484 bytes left
modprobe used greatest stack depth: 7184 bytes left
mknod used greatest stack depth: 6976 bytes left
showconsole used greatest stack depth: 6904 bytes left
modprobe used greatest stack depth: 5600 bytes left
mysearch.pl used greatest stack depth: 5536 bytes left
mysearch.pl used greatest stack depth: 5496 bytes left
firefox-bin used greatest stack depth: 5484 bytes left
totem-video-thu used greatest stack depth: 5324 bytes left
thunderbird-bin used greatest stack depth: 4864 bytes left

And another machine (intel, 3G RAM):

[ 0.123030] khelper used greatest stack depth: 2768 bytes left
[ 3.518510] insmod used greatest stack depth: 2148 bytes left
[ 6.203832] insmod used greatest stack depth: 1424 bytes left

Seemingly harmless, but when it hit firefox, the entire firefox will
hang - and it does not respond to any keyboard/mouse input. Since it
has hit two of my machine simultaneously, I don't it should be
ignored.

Can someone help me?

a. How do I probe further the cause of the error?
b. Seemingly repeatable ..... how to generate a BUG() stack trace at
the point of error - recompiling really needed?
c. Kernel version 2.6.28-rc6, with FTRACE compiled option turned on.
HOw do I used FTRACE to de

--
Regards,
Peter Teoh

Ernest Hemingway - "Never mistake motion for action."


2008-12-03 16:03:48

by Frederic Weisbecker

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Kernel Error Message: modprobe used greatest stack depth

Hi Peter.

2008/12/3 Peter Teoh <[email protected]>:
> In less than 6 hours since I turned on the machine I have been getting
> these message (spread over different times) in my dmesg:
>
> Machine A (AMD Athlon 4200, 3G RAM):
>
> khelper used greatest stack depth: 7484 bytes left
> modprobe used greatest stack depth: 7184 bytes left
> mknod used greatest stack depth: 6976 bytes left
> showconsole used greatest stack depth: 6904 bytes left
> modprobe used greatest stack depth: 5600 bytes left
> mysearch.pl used greatest stack depth: 5536 bytes left
> mysearch.pl used greatest stack depth: 5496 bytes left
> firefox-bin used greatest stack depth: 5484 bytes left
> totem-video-thu used greatest stack depth: 5324 bytes left
> thunderbird-bin used greatest stack depth: 4864 bytes left
>
> And another machine (intel, 3G RAM):
>
> [ 0.123030] khelper used greatest stack depth: 2768 bytes left
> [ 3.518510] insmod used greatest stack depth: 2148 bytes left
> [ 6.203832] insmod used greatest stack depth: 1424 bytes left


This is the result of CONFIG_DEBUG_STACK_USAGE turned on.
When a process exits, kernel/exit.c:check_stack_usage() is called.


> Seemingly harmless, but when it hit firefox, the entire firefox will
> hang - and it does not respond to any keyboard/mouse input. Since it
> has hit two of my machine simultaneously, I don't it should be
> ignored.



When firefox exits, this function is called... If you think that
check_stack_usage()
could be responsible of this hang, perhaps you can put a printk()
after its call to check it.
I don't know, it depends on when it happens.

>
> Can someone help me?
>
> a. How do I probe further the cause of the error?
> b. Seemingly repeatable ..... how to generate a BUG() stack trace at
> the point of error - recompiling really needed?
> c. Kernel version 2.6.28-rc6, with FTRACE compiled option turned on.
> HOw do I used FTRACE to de


You should first try to find a way to reproduce it..... When does it happen?