linux/kernel
Rasmus Villemoes e7cb072eb9 init/initramfs.c: do unpacking asynchronously
Patch series "background initramfs unpacking, and CONFIG_MODPROBE_PATH", v3.

These two patches are independent, but better-together.

The second is a rather trivial patch that simply allows the developer to
change "/sbin/modprobe" to something else - e.g.  the empty string, so
that all request_module() during early boot return -ENOENT early, without
even spawning a usermode helper, needlessly synchronizing with the
initramfs unpacking.

The first patch delegates decompressing the initramfs to a worker thread,
allowing do_initcalls() in main.c to proceed to the device_ and late_
initcalls without waiting for that decompression (and populating of
rootfs) to finish.  Obviously, some of those later calls may rely on the
initramfs being available, so I've added synchronization points in the
firmware loader and usermodehelper paths - there might be other places
that would need this, but so far no one has been able to think of any
places I have missed.

There's not much to win if most of the functionality needed during boot is
only available as modules.  But systems with a custom-made .config and
initramfs can boot faster, partly due to utilizing more than one cpu
earlier, partly by avoiding known-futile modprobe calls (which would still
trigger synchronization with the initramfs unpacking, thus eliminating
most of the first benefit).

This patch (of 2):

Most of the boot process doesn't actually need anything from the
initramfs, until of course PID1 is to be executed.  So instead of doing
the decompressing and populating of the initramfs synchronously in
populate_rootfs() itself, push that off to a worker thread.

This is primarily motivated by an embedded ppc target, where unpacking
even the rather modest sized initramfs takes 0.6 seconds, which is long
enough that the external watchdog becomes unhappy that it doesn't get
attention soon enough.  By doing the initramfs decompression in a worker
thread, we get to do the device_initcalls and hence start petting the
watchdog much sooner.

Normal desktops might benefit as well.  On my mostly stock Ubuntu kernel,
my initramfs is a 26M xz-compressed blob, decompressing to around 126M.
That takes almost two seconds:

[    0.201454] Trying to unpack rootfs image as initramfs...
[    1.976633] Freeing initrd memory: 29416K

Before this patch, these lines occur consecutively in dmesg.  With this
patch, the timestamps on these two lines is roughly the same as above, but
with 172 lines inbetween - so more than one cpu has been kept busy doing
work that would otherwise only happen after the populate_rootfs()
finished.

Should one of the initcalls done after rootfs_initcall time (i.e., device_
and late_ initcalls) need something from the initramfs (say, a kernel
module or a firmware blob), it will simply wait for the initramfs
unpacking to be done before proceeding, which should in theory make this
completely safe.

But if some driver pokes around in the filesystem directly and not via one
of the official kernel interfaces (i.e.  request_firmware*(),
call_usermodehelper*) that theory may not hold - also, I certainly might
have missed a spot when sprinkling wait_for_initramfs().  So there is an
escape hatch in the form of an initramfs_async= command line parameter.

Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20210313212528.2956377-1-linux@rasmusvillemoes.dk
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20210313212528.2956377-2-linux@rasmusvillemoes.dk
Signed-off-by: Rasmus Villemoes <linux@rasmusvillemoes.dk>
Reviewed-by: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@kernel.org>
Cc: Jessica Yu <jeyu@kernel.org>
Cc: Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>
Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@google.com>
Cc: Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2021-05-07 00:26:33 -07:00
..
bpf Networking changes for 5.13. 2021-04-29 11:57:23 -07:00
cgroup cgroup: rstat: punt root-level optimization to individual controllers 2021-04-30 11:20:37 -07:00
configs kconfig: do not use allnoconfig_y option 2021-04-14 15:22:49 +09:00
debug printk changes for 5.13 2021-04-27 18:09:44 -07:00
dma kernel/dma: remove unnecessary unmap_kernel_range 2021-04-30 11:20:40 -07:00
entry A trivial cleanup of typo fixes. 2021-04-26 09:41:15 -07:00
events perf: Extend PERF_TYPE_HARDWARE and PERF_TYPE_HW_CACHE 2021-04-19 20:03:29 +02:00
gcov gcov: clang: drop support for clang-10 and older 2021-05-07 00:26:32 -07:00
irq The usual updates from the irq departement: 2021-04-26 09:43:16 -07:00
kcsan kcsan: Fix printk format string 2021-04-22 14:36:03 +02:00
livepatch Livepatching changes for 5.13 2021-04-27 18:14:38 -07:00
locking Locking changes for this cycle were: 2021-04-28 12:37:53 -07:00
power PM: sleep: fix typos in comments 2021-04-08 19:37:21 +02:00
printk kernel/printk.c: Fixed mundane typos 2021-03-30 15:34:17 +02:00
rcu Merge branches 'bitmaprange.2021.03.08a', 'fixes.2021.03.15a', 'kvfree_rcu.2021.03.08a', 'mmdumpobj.2021.03.08a', 'nocb.2021.03.15a', 'poll.2021.03.24a', 'rt.2021.03.08a', 'tasks.2021.03.08a', 'torture.2021.03.08a' and 'torturescript.2021.03.22a' into HEAD 2021-03-24 17:20:18 -07:00
sched Scheduler updates for this cycle are: 2021-04-28 13:33:57 -07:00
time Power management updates for 5.13-rc1 2021-04-26 15:10:25 -07:00
trace Networking changes for 5.13. 2021-04-29 11:57:23 -07:00
.gitignore
acct.c kernel/acct.c: use #elif instead of #end and #elif 2020-12-15 22:46:15 -08:00
async.c kernel/async.c: remove async_unregister_domain() 2021-05-07 00:26:33 -07:00
audit_fsnotify.c audit_alloc_mark(): don't open-code ERR_CAST() 2021-02-23 10:25:27 -05:00
audit_tree.c fsnotify: generalize handle_inode_event() 2020-12-03 14:58:35 +01:00
audit_watch.c fsnotify: generalize handle_inode_event() 2020-12-03 14:58:35 +01:00
audit.c lsm: separate security_task_getsecid() into subjective and objective variants 2021-03-22 15:23:32 -04:00
audit.h audit: avoid -Wempty-body warning 2021-03-24 12:11:48 -04:00
auditfilter.c lsm: separate security_task_getsecid() into subjective and objective variants 2021-03-22 15:23:32 -04:00
auditsc.c audit/stable-5.13 PR 20210426 2021-04-27 13:50:58 -07:00
backtracetest.c
bounds.c
capability.c capability: handle idmapped mounts 2021-01-24 14:27:16 +01:00
cfi.c add support for Clang CFI 2021-04-08 16:04:20 -07:00
compat.c
configs.c
context_tracking.c
cpu_pm.c
cpu.c cpumask/hotplug: Fix cpu_dying() state tracking 2021-04-21 13:55:43 +02:00
crash_core.c kdump: append uts_namespace.name offset to VMCOREINFO 2020-12-15 22:46:18 -08:00
crash_dump.c
cred.c kernel/cred.c: make init_groups static 2021-05-06 19:24:11 -07:00
delayacct.c
dma.c
exec_domain.c
exit.c do_wait: make PIDTYPE_PID case O(1) instead of O(n) 2021-05-06 19:24:13 -07:00
extable.c
fail_function.c fault-injection: handle EI_ETYPE_TRUE 2020-12-15 22:46:19 -08:00
fork.c kernel/fork.c: fix typos 2021-05-06 19:24:13 -07:00
freezer.c Revert "kernel: freezer should treat PF_IO_WORKER like PF_KTHREAD for freezing" 2021-03-27 14:09:10 -06:00
futex.c Linux 5.12-rc5 2021-03-29 15:56:48 +02:00
gen_kheaders.sh kbuild: redo fake deps at include/config/*.h 2021-04-25 05:26:10 +09:00
groups.c groups: simplify struct group_info allocation 2021-02-26 09:41:03 -08:00
hung_task.c kernel/hung_task.c: make type annotations consistent 2020-11-02 12:14:19 -08:00
iomem.c
irq_work.c irq_work: record irq_work_queue() call stack 2021-04-30 11:20:42 -07:00
jump_label.c static_call: Fix static_call_update() sanity check 2021-03-19 13:16:44 +01:00
kallsyms.c kallsyms: strip ThinLTO hashes from static functions 2021-04-08 16:04:21 -07:00
kcmp.c Merge branch 'exec-update-lock-for-v5.11' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/ebiederm/user-namespace 2020-12-15 19:36:48 -08:00
Kconfig.freezer
Kconfig.hz
Kconfig.locks
Kconfig.preempt preempt: Introduce CONFIG_PREEMPT_DYNAMIC 2021-02-17 14:12:24 +01:00
kcov.c kernel: make kcov_common_handle consider the current context 2020-11-02 18:00:20 -08:00
kexec_core.c kexec: dump kmessage before machine_kexec 2021-05-07 00:26:32 -07:00
kexec_elf.c
kexec_file.c kernel: kexec_file: fix error return code of kexec_calculate_store_digests() 2021-05-07 00:26:32 -07:00
kexec_internal.h kexec: move machine_kexec_post_load() to public interface 2021-02-22 12:33:26 +00:00
kexec.c
kheaders.c
kmod.c
kprobes.c kprobes: Fix to delay the kprobes jump optimization 2021-02-19 14:57:12 -05:00
ksysfs.c
kthread.c Scheduler updates for this cycle are: 2021-04-28 13:33:57 -07:00
latencytop.c
Makefile add support for Clang CFI 2021-04-08 16:04:20 -07:00
module_signature.c module: harden ELF info handling 2021-01-19 10:24:45 +01:00
module_signing.c module: harden ELF info handling 2021-01-19 10:24:45 +01:00
module-internal.h
module.c add support for Clang CFI 2021-04-08 16:04:20 -07:00
notifier.c
nsproxy.c fixes-v5.11 2020-12-14 16:40:27 -08:00
padata.c
panic.c panic: don't dump stack twice on warn 2020-11-14 11:26:04 -08:00
params.c Modules updates for v5.11 2020-12-17 13:01:31 -08:00
pid_namespace.c fixes-v5.11 2020-12-14 16:40:27 -08:00
pid.c Merge branch 'exec-update-lock-for-v5.11' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/ebiederm/user-namespace 2020-12-15 19:36:48 -08:00
profile.c kernel: Initialize cpumask before parsing 2021-04-10 13:35:54 +02:00
ptrace.c Linux 5.12-rc8 2021-04-20 10:13:58 +02:00
range.c
reboot.c Revert "PM: ACPI: reboot: Use S5 for reboot" 2021-03-18 16:58:02 +01:00
regset.c
relay.c relay: allow the use of const callback structs 2020-12-15 22:46:18 -08:00
resource_kunit.c resource: provide meaningful MODULE_LICENSE() in test suite 2020-11-25 18:52:35 +01:00
resource.c kernel/resource: fix locking in request_free_mem_region 2021-05-07 00:26:33 -07:00
rseq.c rseq: Optimise rseq_get_rseq_cs() and clear_rseq_cs() 2021-04-14 18:04:09 +02:00
scftorture.c scftorture: Add debug output for wrong-CPU warning 2021-01-04 13:53:41 -08:00
scs.c scs: switch to vmapped shadow stacks 2020-12-01 10:30:28 +00:00
seccomp.c seccomp: Fix "cacheable" typo in comments 2021-03-30 22:34:30 -07:00
signal.c Scheduler updates for this cycle are: 2021-04-28 13:33:57 -07:00
smp.c Merge branch 'locking/core' into x86/mm, to resolve conflict 2021-03-06 13:00:58 +01:00
smpboot.c kthread: Extract KTHREAD_IS_PER_CPU 2021-01-22 15:09:42 +01:00
smpboot.h
softirq.c RCU changes for this cycle were: 2021-04-28 12:00:13 -07:00
stackleak.c
stacktrace.c
static_call.c static_call: Fix unused variable warn w/o MODULE 2021-04-09 13:22:12 +02:00
stop_machine.c stop_machine: Add caller debug info to queue_stop_cpus_work 2021-03-23 16:01:58 +01:00
sys_ni.c quota: wire up quotactl_path 2021-03-17 15:51:17 +01:00
sys.c arm64: Introduce prctl(PR_PAC_{SET,GET}_ENABLED_KEYS) 2021-04-13 17:31:44 +01:00
sysctl-test.c
sysctl.c mm/compaction: remove unused variable sysctl_compact_memory 2021-05-05 11:27:24 -07:00
task_work.c kasan: record task_work_add() call stack 2021-04-30 11:20:42 -07:00
taskstats.c treewide: rename nla_strlcpy to nla_strscpy. 2020-11-16 08:08:54 -08:00
test_kprobes.c
torture.c torture: Replace torture_init_begin string with %s 2021-03-08 14:22:28 -08:00
tracepoint.c tracepoints: Code clean up 2021-02-09 12:27:29 -05:00
tsacct.c
ucount.c fanotify: configurable limits via sysfs 2021-03-16 16:49:31 +01:00
uid16.c
uid16.h
umh.c init/initramfs.c: do unpacking asynchronously 2021-05-07 00:26:33 -07:00
up.c smp: Inline on_each_cpu_cond() and on_each_cpu() 2021-03-06 12:59:10 +01:00
user_namespace.c capabilities: require CAP_SETFCAP to map uid 0 2021-04-20 14:28:33 -07:00
user-return-notifier.c
user.c
usermode_driver.c bpf: Fix umd memory leak in copy_process() 2021-03-19 22:23:19 +01:00
utsname_sysctl.c
utsname.c
watch_queue.c watch_queue: rectify kernel-doc for init_watch() 2021-01-26 11:16:34 +00:00
watchdog_hld.c
watchdog.c watchdog: cleanup handling of false positives 2021-04-30 11:20:36 -07:00
workqueue_internal.h
workqueue.c CFI on arm64 series for v5.13-rc1 2021-04-27 10:16:46 -07:00