[PATCH 03/16] kdb: Use real_parent when displaying a list of processes

[Doug Anderson]

Hi,

On Thu, May 19, 2022 at 4:49 PM Eric W. Biederman <ebiederm at xmission.com> wrote:
>
> Doug Anderson <dianders at chromium.org> writes:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > On Wed, May 18, 2022 at 3:54 PM Eric W. Biederman <ebiederm at xmission.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> kdb has a bug that when using the ps command to display a list of
> >> processes, if a process is being debugged the debugger as the parent
> >> process.
> >>
> >> This is silly, and I expect it never comes up in ptractice.  As there
> >> is very little point in using gdb and kdb simultaneously.  Update the
> >> code to use real_parent so that it is clear kdb does not want to
> >> display a debugger as the parent of a process.
> >
> > So I would tend to defer to Daniel, but I'm not convinced that the
> > behavior you describe for kdb today _is_ actually silly.
> >
> > If I was in kdb and I was listing processes, I might actually want to
> > see that a process's parent was set to gdb. Presumably that would tell
> > me extra information that might be relevant to my debug session.
> >
> > Personally, I'd rather add an extra piece of information into the list
> > showing the real parent if it's not the same as the parent. Then
> > you're not throwing away information.
>
> The name of the field is confusing for anyone who isn't intimate with
> the implementation details.  The function getppid returns
> tsk->real_parent->tgid.
>
> If kdb wants information of what the tracer is that is fine, but I
> recommend putting that information in another field.
>
> Given that the original description says give the information that ps
> gives my sense is that kdb is currently wrong.  Especially as it does
> not give you the actual parentage anywhere.
>
> I can certainly be convinced, but I do want some clarity.  It looks very
> attractive to rename task->parent to task->ptracer and leave the field
> NULL when there is no tracer.

Fair enough. You can consider my objection rescinded.

Presumably, though, you're hoping for an Ack for your patch and you
plan to take it with the rest of the series. That's going to need to
come from Daniel anyway as he is the actual maintainer. I'm just the
peanut gallery. ;-)

-Doug