On Mon, 2008-05-26 at 17:42 +1000, Rusty Russell wrote:
> If we fail to transmit a packet, we assume the queue is full and put
> the skb into last_xmit_skb. However, if more space frees up before we
> xmit it, we loop, and the result can be transmitting the same skb twice.
>
> Fix is simple: set skb to NULL if we've used it in some way, and check
> before sending.
...
> diff -r
564237b31993 drivers/net/virtio_net.c
> --- a/drivers/net/virtio_net.c Mon May 19 12:22:00 2008 +1000
> +++ b/drivers/net/virtio_net.c Mon May 19 12:24:58 2008 +1000
> @@ -287,21 +287,25 @@ again:
> free_old_xmit_skbs(vi);
>
> /* If we has a buffer left over from last time, send it now. */
> - if (vi->last_xmit_skb) {
> + if (unlikely(vi->last_xmit_skb)) {
> if (xmit_skb(vi, vi->last_xmit_skb) != 0) {
> /* Drop this skb: we only queue one. */
> vi->dev->stats.tx_dropped++;
> kfree_skb(skb);
> + skb = NULL;
> goto stop_queue;
> }
> vi->last_xmit_skb = NULL;
With this, may drop an skb and then later in the function discover that
we could have sent it after all. Poor wee skb :)
How about the incremental patch below?
Cheers,
Mark.
Subject: [PATCH] virtio_net: Delay dropping tx skbs
Currently we drop the skb in start_xmit() if we have a
queued buffer and fail to transmit it.
However, if we delay dropping it until we've stopped the
queue and enabled the tx notification callback, then there
is a chance space might become available for it.
Signed-off-by: Mark McLoughlin <markmc@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Rusty Russell <rusty@rustcorp.com.au>
free_old_xmit_skbs(vi);
/* If we has a buffer left over from last time, send it now. */
- if (unlikely(vi->last_xmit_skb)) {
- if (xmit_skb(vi, vi->last_xmit_skb) != 0) {
- /* Drop this skb: we only queue one. */
- vi->dev->stats.tx_dropped++;
- kfree_skb(skb);
- skb = NULL;
- goto stop_queue;
- }
- vi->last_xmit_skb = NULL;
- }
+ if (unlikely(vi->last_xmit_skb) &&
+ xmit_skb(vi, vi->last_xmit_skb) != 0)
+ goto stop_queue;
+
+ vi->last_xmit_skb = NULL;
/* Put new one in send queue and do transmit */
if (likely(skb)) {
netif_start_queue(dev);
goto again;
}
+ if (skb) {
+ /* Drop this skb: we only queue one. */
+ vi->dev->stats.tx_dropped++;
+ kfree_skb(skb);
+ }
goto done;
}