, to check that the mm is not already exiting: there's a danger of using find_vma on a layout that's being torn apart, or writing into page tables which have been freed for reuse; and even do_anonymous_page and __do_fault need to check they're not being called by break_ksm to reinstate a pte after zap_pte_range has zapped that page table. Though it might be clearer to add an exiting flag, set while holding mmap_sem in __ksm_exit, that wouldn't cover the issue of reinstating a zapped pte. All we need is to check whether mm_users is 0 - but must remember that ksmd may detect that before __ksm_exit is reached. So, ksm_test_exit(mm) added to comment such checks on mm->mm_users. __ksm_exit now has to leave clearing up the rmap_items to ksmd, that needs ksm_thread_mutex; but shift the exiting mm just after the ksm_scan cursor so that it will soon be dealt with. __ksm_enter raise mm_count to hold the mm_struct, ksmd's exit processing (exactly like its processing when it finds all VM_MERGEABLEs unmapped) mmdrop it, similar procedure for KSM_RUN_UNMERGE (which has stopped ksmd). But also give __ksm_exit a fast path: when there's no complication (no rmap_items attached to mm and it's not at the ksm_scan cursor), it can safely do all the exiting work itself. This is not just an optimization: when ksmd is not running, the raised mm_count would otherwise leak mm_structs. Signed-off-by: Hugh Dickins Acked-by: Izik Eidus Cc: Andrea Arcangeli Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds