Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1755555AbZGML5B (ORCPT ); Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:57:01 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1755512AbZGML5A (ORCPT ); Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:57:00 -0400 Received: from mk-filter-3-a-1.mail.uk.tiscali.com ([212.74.100.54]:8260 "EHLO mk-filter-3-a-1.mail.uk.tiscali.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1755470AbZGML47 (ORCPT ); Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:56:59 -0400 X-Trace: 225992955/mk-filter-3.mail.uk.tiscali.com/B2C/$b2c-THROTTLED-DYNAMIC/b2c-CUSTOMER-DYNAMIC-IP/79.69.11.136/None/hugh.dickins@tiscali.co.uk X-SBRS: None X-RemoteIP: 79.69.11.136 X-IP-MAIL-FROM: hugh.dickins@tiscali.co.uk X-SMTP-AUTH: X-MUA: X-IP-BHB: Once X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: AroBADe9WkpPRQuI/2dsb2JhbAAIywGECQU X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.42,389,1243810800"; d="scan'208";a="225992955" Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:56:17 +0100 (BST) From: Hugh Dickins X-X-Sender: hugh@sister.anvils To: Guennadi Liakhovetski cc: Haavard Skinnemoen , linux-mm@kvack.org, kernel@avr32linux.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [BUG 2.6.30] Bad page map in process In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: <20090712095731.3090ef56@siona> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1621 Lines: 33 On Sun, 12 Jul 2009, Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote: > > 2. the specific BUG that I posted originally wasn't very interesting, > because it wasn't the first one. Having read a few posts I wasn't quite > sure how really severe this BUG was, i.e., whether or not it requiret a > reboot. There used to be a message like "reboot is required" around this > sort of exceptions, but then it has been removed, so, I thought, it wasn't > required any more. But the fact is, that once one such BUG has occurred, > new ones will come from various applications and eventually the system > will become unusable. I replaced Bad page state's reboot is needed message by just the BUG prefix: partly because the bad page handling _is_ now more resilient; but more because I don't like wasting screenlines which could hold vital info, and because I didn't see how this BUG differs from others in whether or not you need a reboot. A BUG means the kernel is in unknown territory: if you're brave and want to gather more info, you try to keep on running after a BUG; if you're cautious, you reboot as soon as possible. (Hmm, but perhaps I should wire these in to panic_on_oops??) You did the right thing: kept on running, then decided it wasn't worth it. (But you've only sent the one pair of messages gathered: okay, let's forget the rest until you've sorted the hardware angle.) Hugh -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/