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authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@ppc970.osdl.org>2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@ppc970.osdl.org>2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700
commit1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 (patch)
tree0bba044c4ce775e45a88a51686b5d9f90697ea9d /Documentation/power/kernel_threads.txt
Linux-2.6.12-rc2v2.6.12-rc2
Initial git repository build. I'm not bothering with the full history, even though we have it. We can create a separate "historical" git archive of that later if we want to, and in the meantime it's about 3.2GB when imported into git - space that would just make the early git days unnecessarily complicated, when we don't have a lot of good infrastructure for it. Let it rip!
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+KERNEL THREADS
+
+
+Freezer
+
+Upon entering a suspended state the system will freeze all
+tasks. This is done by delivering pseudosignals. This affects
+kernel threads, too. To successfully freeze a kernel thread
+the thread has to check for the pseudosignal and enter the
+refrigerator. Code to do this looks like this:
+
+ do {
+ hub_events();
+ wait_event_interruptible(khubd_wait, !list_empty(&hub_event_list));
+ if (current->flags & PF_FREEZE)
+ refrigerator(PF_FREEZE);
+ } while (!signal_pending(current));
+
+from drivers/usb/core/hub.c::hub_thread()
+
+
+The Unfreezable
+
+Some kernel threads however, must not be frozen. The kernel must
+be able to finish pending IO operations and later on be able to
+write the memory image to disk. Kernel threads needed to do IO
+must stay awake. Such threads must mark themselves unfreezable
+like this:
+
+ /*
+ * This thread doesn't need any user-level access,
+ * so get rid of all our resources.
+ */
+ daemonize("usb-storage");
+
+ current->flags |= PF_NOFREEZE;
+
+from drivers/usb/storage/usb.c::usb_stor_control_thread()
+
+Such drivers are themselves responsible for staying quiet during
+the actual snapshotting.