Why can't I interrupt IO operations on linux?












1















I tried to abort mkfs.ntfs applied on USB drive (forgot the Quck format flag) and then another big disk IO operation (using dd). They both took more than several minutes to abort, so I just rebooted, because it was much faster to do than to convince the OS I really want to cancel and don't care about the media state.
Why is it the case on Linux, why does kill -9 doesn't abort the operation instantaneously or rather fast enough for a human being (something around a pair of seconds at most)?
A pair of seconds is nearly an eternity for a computer to stop a DMA, why does it take so long and do you know if I can tweak some setting to make it faster?










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migrated from serverfault.com 3 hours ago


This question came from our site for system and network administrators.



















  • please include kernel versions in kernel questions

    – sourcejedi
    2 hours ago











  • lwn.net/Articles/288056 is some relevant background. see also github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/499d05ecf990 . did you try kill -9 ? maybe TASK_KILLABLE only reacts to SIGKILL, i am not sure.

    – sourcejedi
    2 hours ago











  • @sourcejedi I think the result has been in the question. They didn't terminate quickly.

    – 炸鱼薯条德里克
    42 mins ago
















1















I tried to abort mkfs.ntfs applied on USB drive (forgot the Quck format flag) and then another big disk IO operation (using dd). They both took more than several minutes to abort, so I just rebooted, because it was much faster to do than to convince the OS I really want to cancel and don't care about the media state.
Why is it the case on Linux, why does kill -9 doesn't abort the operation instantaneously or rather fast enough for a human being (something around a pair of seconds at most)?
A pair of seconds is nearly an eternity for a computer to stop a DMA, why does it take so long and do you know if I can tweak some setting to make it faster?










share|improve this question













migrated from serverfault.com 3 hours ago


This question came from our site for system and network administrators.



















  • please include kernel versions in kernel questions

    – sourcejedi
    2 hours ago











  • lwn.net/Articles/288056 is some relevant background. see also github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/499d05ecf990 . did you try kill -9 ? maybe TASK_KILLABLE only reacts to SIGKILL, i am not sure.

    – sourcejedi
    2 hours ago











  • @sourcejedi I think the result has been in the question. They didn't terminate quickly.

    – 炸鱼薯条德里克
    42 mins ago














1












1








1








I tried to abort mkfs.ntfs applied on USB drive (forgot the Quck format flag) and then another big disk IO operation (using dd). They both took more than several minutes to abort, so I just rebooted, because it was much faster to do than to convince the OS I really want to cancel and don't care about the media state.
Why is it the case on Linux, why does kill -9 doesn't abort the operation instantaneously or rather fast enough for a human being (something around a pair of seconds at most)?
A pair of seconds is nearly an eternity for a computer to stop a DMA, why does it take so long and do you know if I can tweak some setting to make it faster?










share|improve this question














I tried to abort mkfs.ntfs applied on USB drive (forgot the Quck format flag) and then another big disk IO operation (using dd). They both took more than several minutes to abort, so I just rebooted, because it was much faster to do than to convince the OS I really want to cancel and don't care about the media state.
Why is it the case on Linux, why does kill -9 doesn't abort the operation instantaneously or rather fast enough for a human being (something around a pair of seconds at most)?
A pair of seconds is nearly an eternity for a computer to stop a DMA, why does it take so long and do you know if I can tweak some setting to make it faster?







linux io






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asked 4 hours ago









nulleightnulleight

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migrated from serverfault.com 3 hours ago


This question came from our site for system and network administrators.









migrated from serverfault.com 3 hours ago


This question came from our site for system and network administrators.















  • please include kernel versions in kernel questions

    – sourcejedi
    2 hours ago











  • lwn.net/Articles/288056 is some relevant background. see also github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/499d05ecf990 . did you try kill -9 ? maybe TASK_KILLABLE only reacts to SIGKILL, i am not sure.

    – sourcejedi
    2 hours ago











  • @sourcejedi I think the result has been in the question. They didn't terminate quickly.

    – 炸鱼薯条德里克
    42 mins ago



















  • please include kernel versions in kernel questions

    – sourcejedi
    2 hours ago











  • lwn.net/Articles/288056 is some relevant background. see also github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/499d05ecf990 . did you try kill -9 ? maybe TASK_KILLABLE only reacts to SIGKILL, i am not sure.

    – sourcejedi
    2 hours ago











  • @sourcejedi I think the result has been in the question. They didn't terminate quickly.

    – 炸鱼薯条德里克
    42 mins ago

















please include kernel versions in kernel questions

– sourcejedi
2 hours ago





please include kernel versions in kernel questions

– sourcejedi
2 hours ago













lwn.net/Articles/288056 is some relevant background. see also github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/499d05ecf990 . did you try kill -9 ? maybe TASK_KILLABLE only reacts to SIGKILL, i am not sure.

– sourcejedi
2 hours ago





lwn.net/Articles/288056 is some relevant background. see also github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/499d05ecf990 . did you try kill -9 ? maybe TASK_KILLABLE only reacts to SIGKILL, i am not sure.

– sourcejedi
2 hours ago













@sourcejedi I think the result has been in the question. They didn't terminate quickly.

– 炸鱼薯条德里克
42 mins ago





@sourcejedi I think the result has been in the question. They didn't terminate quickly.

– 炸鱼薯条德里克
42 mins ago










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