[PATCH 5/7] kunit: tool: Allow several run_kernel() calls to be in flight at once

From: Mark Brown

Date: Tue Oct 13 2026 - 14:28:51 EST


run_kernel() records the kernel it starts in a single self._process
attribute, which the timeout thread, the cleanup at the end of the
output and the SIGINT handler all read back. That only works while one
kernel is running at a time, which rules out running suites in
parallel guests from multiple threads.

Track running kernels in a list protected by a lock instead, with each
run_kernel() invocation only adding and removing its own entry. The
timeout thread and the cleanup code work on a local reference to their
own process rather than going via self, so one kernel timing out can no
longer terminate a different one. The SIGINT handler terminates every
kernel that is still running.

No functional change when a single kernel is run at a time.

Signed-off-by: Mark Brown <broonie@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/testing/kunit/kunit_kernel.py | 45 ++++++++++++++++++++--------------
tools/testing/kunit/kunit_tool_test.py | 27 ++++++++++++++++++++
2 files changed, 53 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/testing/kunit/kunit_kernel.py b/tools/testing/kunit/kunit_kernel.py
index 2641db9eddba..1d3226f5a136 100644
--- a/tools/testing/kunit/kunit_kernel.py
+++ b/tools/testing/kunit/kunit_kernel.py
@@ -277,7 +277,11 @@ class LinuxSourceTree:
if kconfig_add:
kconfig = kunit_config.parse_from_string('\n'.join(kconfig_add))
self._kconfig.merge_in_entries(kconfig)
- self._process : Optional[subprocess.Popen[Any]] = None
+ # Kernels currently running. There can be several when
+ # run_kernel() is called concurrently from multiple threads.
+ self._processes : List[subprocess.Popen[Any]] = []
+ # SIGINT can interrupt the main thread while it holds this lock.
+ self._processes_lock = threading.RLock()

def arch(self) -> str:
return self._arch
@@ -368,7 +372,9 @@ class LinuxSourceTree:
"""Boots the kernel and yields its console output line by line.

The output is also written to `outfile`, which defaults to
- test.log in the build directory.
+ test.log in the build directory. This may be called from
+ several threads at once to run kernels concurrently, in which
+ case each caller must supply a distinct `outfile`.
"""
# Copy to avoid mutating the caller-supplied list. exec_tests() reuses
# the same args across repeated run_kernel() calls (e.g. --run_isolated),
@@ -385,37 +391,36 @@ class LinuxSourceTree:
if outfile is None:
outfile = get_outfile_path(build_dir)

- self._process = self._ops.start(args, build_dir)
- assert self._process is not None # tell mypy it's set
- assert self._process.stdout is not None # tell mypy it's set
+ process = self._ops.start(args, build_dir)
+ assert process is not None # tell mypy it's set
+ assert process.stdout is not None # tell mypy it's set
+ with self._processes_lock:
+ self._processes.append(process)

# Enforce the timeout in a background thread.
def _wait_proc() -> None:
try:
- if self._process:
- self._process.wait(timeout=timeout)
+ process.wait(timeout=timeout)
except Exception as e:
print(e)
- if self._process:
- self._process.terminate()
- self._process.wait()
+ process.terminate()
+ process.wait()
waiter = threading.Thread(target=_wait_proc)
waiter.start()

output = open(outfile, 'w')
try:
# Tee the output to the file and to our caller in real time.
- for line in self._process.stdout:
+ for line in process.stdout:
output.write(line)
yield line
# This runs even if our caller doesn't consume every line.
finally:
# Flush any leftover output to the file
- if self._process:
- if self._process.stdout:
- output.write(self._process.stdout.read())
- self._process.stdout.close()
- self._process = None
+ output.write(process.stdout.read())
+ process.stdout.close()
+ with self._processes_lock:
+ self._processes.remove(process)
output.close()

waiter.join()
@@ -423,7 +428,9 @@ class LinuxSourceTree:

def signal_handler(self, unused_sig: int, unused_frame: Optional[FrameType]) -> None:
logging.error('Build interruption occurred. Cleaning console.')
- if self._process:
- self._process.terminate()
- self._process.wait()
+ with self._processes_lock:
+ processes = list(self._processes)
+ for process in processes:
+ process.terminate()
+ process.wait()
self._restore_terminal_if_tty()
diff --git a/tools/testing/kunit/kunit_tool_test.py b/tools/testing/kunit/kunit_tool_test.py
index 4e8068dce918..c4999273e491 100755
--- a/tools/testing/kunit/kunit_tool_test.py
+++ b/tools/testing/kunit/kunit_tool_test.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import os
import signal
import subprocess
import sys
+import textwrap
from typing import Iterable
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

@@ -538,6 +539,8 @@ class LinuxSourceTreeTest(unittest.TestCase):
with open(outfile, 'rt') as f:
self.assertEqual(f.read(), 'hi\n')
self.assertFalse(os.path.exists(kunit_kernel.get_outfile_path(build_dir)))
+ # The kernel has exited so should no longer be tracked.
+ self.assertEqual(tree._processes, [])

def test_run_kernel_args_not_mutated(self):
"""Verify run_kernel() copies args so callers can reuse them."""
@@ -607,6 +610,30 @@ class LinuxSourceTreeTest(unittest.TestCase):
mock_error.assert_called_once()
mock_call.assert_called_once_with(['stty', 'sane'])

+ def test_signal_handler_during_process_update(self):
+ # Run in a subprocess so a deadlock fails with a timeout rather
+ # than hanging the test runner. Deliver a real signal while the
+ # main thread holds the lock used to update the process list.
+ code = textwrap.dedent('''\
+ import os
+ import signal
+ from unittest import mock
+ import kunit_kernel
+
+ tree = kunit_kernel.LinuxSourceTree('', kunitconfig_paths=[os.devnull])
+ process = mock.Mock()
+ with tree._processes_lock:
+ tree._processes.append(process)
+ os.kill(os.getpid(), signal.SIGINT)
+ process.terminate.assert_called_once_with()
+ process.wait.assert_called_once_with()
+ ''')
+ result = subprocess.run([sys.executable, '-c', code],
+ cwd=os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)),
+ stdin=subprocess.DEVNULL, stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+ stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, text=True, timeout=5)
+ self.assertEqual(result.returncode, 0, msg=result.stdout)
+
def test_build_reconfig_no_config(self):
with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory('') as build_dir:
with open(kunit_kernel.get_kunitconfig_path(build_dir), 'w') as f:

--
2.47.3