RFR(S): 8247533: SA stack walking sometimes fails with sun.jvm.hotspot.debugger.DebuggerException: get_thread_regs failed for a lwp

Chris Plummer chris.plummer at oracle.com
Fri Jun 19 20:51:25 UTC 2020 

Hello,

I've  updated with webrev based on the new finding that a JavaThread 
cannot be on the ThreadList after its OS thread has been destroyed since 
the JavaThread removes itself from the ThreadList, and therefore must be 
running on its OS thread. The logic of the fix is unchanged from the 
first webrev, but I updated the comments to better reflect what is going 
on. I also updated the CR:

https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8247533
http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~cjplummer/8247533/webrev.01/index.html

thanks,

Chris

On 6/19/20 12:24 AM, David Holmes wrote:
> Hi Chris,
>
> On 19/06/2020 8:55 am, Chris Plummer wrote:
>> On 6/18/20 1:43 AM, David Holmes wrote:
>>> On 18/06/2020 4:49 pm, Chris Plummer wrote:
>>>> On 6/17/20 10:29 PM, David Holmes wrote:
>>>>> On 18/06/2020 3:13 pm, Chris Plummer wrote:
>>>>>> On 6/17/20 10:09 PM, David Holmes wrote:
>>>>>>> On 18/06/2020 2:33 pm, Chris Plummer wrote:
>>>>>>>> On 6/17/20 7:43 PM, David Holmes wrote:
>>>>>>>>> Hi Chris,
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On 18/06/2020 6:34 am, Chris Plummer wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Please help review the following:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8247533
>>>>>>>>>> http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~cjplummer/8247533/webrev.00/index.html 
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> The CR contains all the needed details. Here's a summary of 
>>>>>>>>>> changes in each file:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> The problem sounds to me like a variation of the more general 
>>>>>>>>> problem of not ensuring a thread is kept alive whilst acting 
>>>>>>>>> upon it. I don't know how the SA finds these references to the 
>>>>>>>>> threads it is going to stackwalk, but is it possible to fix 
>>>>>>>>> this via appropriate uses of ThreadsListHandle/Iterator?
>>>>>>>> It fetches ThreadsSMRSupport::_java_thread_list.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Keep in mind that once SA attaches, nothing in the VM changes. 
>>>>>>>> For example, SA can't create a wrapper to a JavaThread, only to 
>>>>>>>> have the JavaThread be freed later on. It's just not possible.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Then how does it obtain a reference to a JavaThread for which 
>>>>>>> the native OS thread id is invalid? Any thread found in 
>>>>>>> _java_thread_list is either live or still to be started. In the 
>>>>>>> latter case the JavaThread->osThread does not have its thread_id 
>>>>>>> set yet.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> My assumption was that the JavaThread is in the process of being 
>>>>>> destroyed, and it has freed its OS thread but is itself still in 
>>>>>> the thread list. I did notice that the OS thread id being used 
>>>>>> looked to be in the range of thread id #'s you would expect for 
>>>>>> the running app, so that to me indicated it was once valid, but 
>>>>>> is no more.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Keep in mind that although hotspot may have synchronization code 
>>>>>> that prevents you from pulling a JavaThread off the thread list 
>>>>>> when it is in the process of being destroyed (I'm guessing it 
>>>>>> does), SA has no such protections.
>>>>>
>>>>> But you stated that once the SA has attached, the target VM can't 
>>>>> change. If the SA gets its set of thread from one attach then 
>>>>> tries to make queries about those threads in a separate attach, 
>>>>> then obviously it could be providing garbage thread information. 
>>>>> So you would need to re-validate the JavaThread in the target VM 
>>>>> before trying to do anything with it.
>>>> That's not what is going on here. It's attaching and doing a stack 
>>>> trace, which involves getting the thread list and iterating through 
>>>> all threads without detaching. 
>>>
>>> Okay so I restate my original comment - all the JavaThreads must be 
>>> alive or not yet started, so how are you encountering an invalid 
>>> thread id? Any thread you find via the ThreadsList can't have 
>>> destroyed its osThread. In any case the logic should be checking 
>>> thread->osThread() for NULL, and then osThread()->get_state() to 
>>> ensure it is >= INITIALIZED before using the thread_id().
>> Hi David,
>>
>> I chatted with Dan about this, and he said since the JavaThread is 
>> responsible for removing itself from the ThreadList, it is impossible 
>> to have a JavaThread still on the ThreadList, but without and 
>> underlying OS Thread. So I'm a bit perplexed as to how I can find a 
>> JavaThread on the ThreadList, but that results in ESRCH when trying 
>> to access the thread with ptrace. My only conclusion is that this 
>> failure is somehow spurious, and maybe the issue it just that the 
>> thread is in some temporary state that prevents its access. If so, I 
>> still think the approach I'm taking is the correct one, but the 
>> comments should be updated.
>
> ESRCH can have other meanings but I don't know enough about the 
> broader context to know whether they are applicable in this case.
>
>     ESRCH  The  specified  process  does not exist, or is not 
> currently being traced by the caller, or is not stopped
>               (for requests that require a stopped tracee).
>
> I won't comment further on the fix/workaround as I don't know the 
> code. I'll leave that to other folk.
>
> Cheers,
> David
> -----
>
>> I had one other finding. When this issue first turned up, it 
>> prevented the thread from getting a stack trace due to the exception 
>> being thrown. What I hadn't realize is that after fixing it to not 
>> throw an exception, which resulted in the stack walking code getting 
>> all nulls for register values, I actually started to see a stack 
>> trace printed:
>>
>> "JLine terminal non blocking reader thread" #26 daemon prio=5 
>> tid=0x00007f12f0cd6420 nid=0x1f99 runnable [0x00007f125f0f4000]
>>     java.lang.Thread.State: RUNNABLE
>>     JavaThread state: _thread_in_native
>> WARNING: getThreadIntegerRegisterSet0: get_lwp_regs failed for lwp 
>> (8089)
>> CurrentFrameGuess: choosing last Java frame: sp = 0x00007f125f0f4770, 
>> fp = 0x00007f125f0f47c0
>>   - java.io.FileInputStream.read0() @bci=0 (Interpreted frame)
>>   - java.io.FileInputStream.read() @bci=1, line=223 (Interpreted frame)
>>   - jdk.internal.org.jline.utils.NonBlockingInputStreamImpl.run() 
>> @bci=108, line=216 (Interpreted frame)
>>   - 
>> jdk.internal.org.jline.utils.NonBlockingInputStreamImpl$$Lambda$536+0x0000000800daeca0.run() 
>> @bci=4 (Interpreted frame)
>>   - java.lang.Thread.run() @bci=11, line=832 (Interpreted frame)
>>
>> The "CurrentFrameGuess" output is some debug tracing I had enabled, 
>> and it indicates that the stack walking code is using the "last java 
>> frame" setting, which it will do if current registers values don't 
>> indicate a valid frame (as would be the case if sp was null). I had 
>> previously assumed that without an underling valid LWP, there would 
>> be no stack trace. Given that there is one, there must be a valid 
>> LWP. Otherwise I don't see how the stack could have been walked. 
>> That's another indication that the ptrace failure is spurious in nature.
>>
>> thanks,
>>
>> Chris
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> David
>>> -----
>>>
>>>> Also, even if you are using something like clhsdb to issue commands 
>>>> on addresses, if the address is no longer valid for the command you 
>>>> are executing, then you would get the appropriate error when there 
>>>> is an attempt to create a wrapper for it. I don't know of any 
>>>> command that operates directly on a JavaThread, but I think there 
>>>> are for InstanceKlass. So if you remembered the address of an 
>>>> InstanceKlass, and then reattached and tried a command that takes 
>>>> an InstanceKlass address, you would get an exception when SA tries 
>>>> to create the wrapper for the InsanceKlass if it were no longer a 
>>>> valid address for one.
>>>>
>>>> Chris
>>>>>
>>>>> David
>>>>> -----
>>>>>
>>>>>> Chris
>>>>>>> David
>>>>>>> -----
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Chris
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>>>> David
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> src/jdk.hotspot.agent/linux/native/libsaproc/LinuxDebuggerLocal.cpp 
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> src/jdk.hotspot.agent/macosx/native/libsaproc/MacosxDebuggerLocal.m 
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> src/jdk.hotspot.agent/windows/native/libsaproc/sawindbg.cpp
>>>>>>>>>> -Instead of throwing an exception when the OS ThreadID is 
>>>>>>>>>> invalid, print a warning.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> src/jdk.hotspot.agent/linux/native/libsaproc/ps_proc.c
>>>>>>>>>> -Improve a print_debug message
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> src/jdk.hotspot.agent/share/classes/sun/jvm/hotspot/debugger/bsd/BsdThread.java 
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> src/jdk.hotspot.agent/share/classes/sun/jvm/hotspot/debugger/linux/LinuxThread.java 
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> src/jdk.hotspot.agent/share/classes/sun/jvm/hotspot/debugger/windbg/amd64/WindbgAMD64Thread.java 
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> -Deal with the array of registers read in being null due to 
>>>>>>>>>> the OS ThreadID not being valid.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> src/jdk.hotspot.agent/share/classes/sun/jvm/hotspot/debugger/bsd/BsdDebuggerLocal.java 
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> src/jdk.hotspot.agent/share/classes/sun/jvm/hotspot/debugger/linux/LinuxDebuggerLocal.java 
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> -Fix issue with "sun.jvm.hotspot.debugger.DebuggerException" 
>>>>>>>>>> appearing twice when printing the exception.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> thanks,
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Chris
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>

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