linux-kernel - Re: [RFC][PATCH] create workqueue threads only when needed

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Date:	Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:46:51 +0100
From:	Oleg Nesterov <oleg@...hat.com>
To:	Frederic Weisbecker <fweisbec@...il.com>
Cc:	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...e.hu>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	Lai Jiangshan <laijs@...fujitsu.com>,
	Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@...llo.nl>,
	Steven Rostedt <rostedt@...dmis.org>, fweisbec@...il.com
Subject: Re: [RFC][PATCH] create workqueue threads only when needed

Frederic Weisbecker <fweisbec@...il.com> wrote:
>
>  static void insert_work(struct cpu_workqueue_struct *cwq,
>  			struct work_struct *work, struct list_head *head)
>  {
> -	trace_workqueue_insertion(cwq->thread, work);
> +	trace_workqueue_insertion(cwq->thread, work, cwq->wq->singlethread);
>
>  	set_wq_data(work, cwq);
>  	/*
> @@ -148,6 +176,9 @@ static void __queue_work(struct cpu_workqueue_struct *cwq,
>  {
>  	unsigned long flags;
>
> +	if (!cwq->thread)
> +		create_wq_thread_late(cwq);
> +

[...snip...]

> +static void create_wq_thread_late_work(struct work_struct *work)
> +{
> +	struct late_workqueue_creation_data *l;
> +	struct cpu_workqueue_struct *cwq;
> +	int cpu = smp_processor_id();
> +	int err = 0;
> +
> +	l = container_of(work, struct late_workqueue_creation_data, work);
> +	cwq = l->cwq;
> +
> +	if (is_wq_single_threaded(cwq->wq)) {
> +		err = create_workqueue_thread(cwq, singlethread_cpu);
> +		start_workqueue_thread(cwq, -1);
> +	} else {
> +		err = create_workqueue_thread(cwq, cpu);
> +		start_workqueue_thread(cwq, cpu);
> +	}
> +	WARN_ON_ONCE(err);
> +	kfree(l);
> +}

Let's suppose the workqueue was just created, and cwq->thared == NULL
on (say) CPU 0.

Then CPU 0 does

	queue_work(wq, work1);
	queue_work(wq, work2);

Both these calls will notice cwq->thread == NULL, both will schedule
the work wilth ->func = create_wq_thread_late_work.

The first work correctly creates cwq->thread, the second one creates
the new thread too and replaces cwq->thread? Now we have two threads
which run in parallel doing the same work, but the first thread is
"stealth", no?

> @@ -904,9 +967,12 @@ static void cleanup_workqueue_thread(struct cpu_workqueue_struct *cwq)
>  	 * checks list_empty(), and a "normal" queue_work() can't use
>  	 * a dead CPU.
>  	 */
> -	trace_workqueue_destruction(cwq->thread);
> -	kthread_stop(cwq->thread);
> -	cwq->thread = NULL;
> +
> +	if (cwq->thread) {
> +		trace_workqueue_destruction(cwq->thread, cwq->wq->singlethread);
> +		kthread_stop(cwq->thread);
> +		cwq->thread = NULL;
> +	}

cleanup_workqueue_thread() has already checked cwq->thread != NULL,
how can it become NULL ?

And let's suppose a user does:

	wq = create_workqueue(...., when_needed => 1);
	queue_work(wq, some_work);
	destroy_workqueue(wq);

This can return before create_wq_thread_late() populates the necessary
cwq->thread. We can destroy/free workqueue with the pending work_structs,
no?

Oleg.

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