linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] ARM fix syscall trace return value

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Date:	Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:30:15 -0500
From:	Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@...ymtl.ca>
To:	Viktor Rosendahl <Viktor.Rosendahl@...ia.com>
Cc:	Russell King <rmk@....linux.org.uk>,
	ext Tony Lindgren <tony@...mide.com>,
	"Moiseichuk Leonid (Nokia-D/Helsinki)" <leonid.moiseichuk@...ia.com>,
	"Kallioinen Juha (Nokia-D/Helsinki)" <juha.kallioinen@...ia.com>,
	"Siamashka Siarhei (Nokia-D/Helsinki)" <siarhei.siamashka@...ia.com>,
	"Tamminen Eero (Nokia-D/Helsinki)" <eero.tamminen@...ia.com>,
	"linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	"linux-arm-kernel@...ts.arm.linux.org.uk" 
	<linux-arm-kernel@...ts.arm.linux.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] ARM fix syscall trace return value

* Viktor Rosendahl (Viktor.Rosendahl@...ia.com) wrote:
> On Tue, 2009-02-17 at 19:18 +0100, ext Mathieu Desnoyers wrote: 
> > Hi Russell,
> > 
> > I am currently finding core bugs in the Linux kernel implementation of
> > the ARM architecture. :-( e.g. return value not being sent to the
> > syscall_trace function upon exit (upon which LTTng depends). (patch
> > below)
> > 
> > This is _very_ silly because there is no dependency on the syscall being
> > executed, and the syscall_entry/syscall_exit events are recorded at the
> > _exact_ same time. Yes, I mean the _exact_ same time : using a clock
> > which consists of atomic_add_return monotonic increments, it seems like
> > ARM is able to return the _same_ value of an atomic increment return
> > *twice* !! I think the atomic.h primitives are broken and that they
> > allow concurrent modification of a given atomic variable by the pipeline.
> > It sounds weird, and I hope I am not crazy (just getting into the ARM
> > world..). ;) Any thoughts ? I'll try adding some barriers to see if it
> > helps.
> 
> Hi Mathieu,
> 
> I am currently investigating a very similar behavior,
> (syscall_entry/syscall_exit events having the exact same time in lttng).
> 
> However, I am using the CCNT (together with trace-clock-32-to-64.c) for
> timestamping. This is, if I understand you correctly, a different clock
> than the one you are using, not using atomic_add_return(). Thus, I
> suspect that the reason for getting the exact same time for entry/exit
> events might be something else than the clocks being broken. 
> 
> I have to admit that I cannot explain how it can happen though. Could it
> be some weird problem in the lttng trace recording ?
> 

I had the same result as you with the ccnt-based clock I am currently
developing, so I went back to a more "solid" and atomic
atomic_add_return clock. But I noticed that we still had entry/exit with
the same timestamps, so I was really unsure about what was happening,
because there is no trace corruption and because I have never, ever,
seen that kind of problem on any other architecture (x86, powerpc,
mips...). So I fixed the syscall_trace exit parameter, which now makes
sure there is a dependency on the return value. But I want to find out
why the atomic add return failed to be atomic in that particular
condition. I suspect there is a missing memory barrier in atomic.h.

Mathieu

> best regards,
> 
> Viktor
> 
> 

-- 
Mathieu Desnoyers
OpenPGP key fingerprint: 8CD5 52C3 8E3C 4140 715F  BA06 3F25 A8FE 3BAE 9A68
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