linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] mutex: have non-spinning mutexes on s390 by default

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Date:	Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:01:03 +0200
From:	Heiko Carstens <heiko.carstens@...ibm.com>
To:	Folkert van Heusden <folkert@...heusden.com>
Cc:	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...e.hu>, Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
	Martin Schwidefsky <schwidefsky@...ibm.com>,
	Christian Borntraeger <borntraeger@...ibm.com>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] mutex: have non-spinning mutexes on s390 by default

On Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:42:12 +0200
Folkert van Heusden <folkert@...heusden.com> wrote:

> > The adaptive spinning mutexes will not always do what one would expect on
> > virtualized architectures like s390. Especially the cpu_relax() loop in
> > mutex_spin_on_owner might hurt if the mutex holding cpu has been scheduled
> > away by the hypervisor.
> > We would end up in a cpu_relax() loop when there is no chance that the
> > state of the mutex changes until the target cpu has been scheduled again by
> > the hypervisor.
> > For that reason we should change the default behaviour to no-spin on s390.
> 
> Hmmm. Wouldn't this be a change that applies to ibm system p as wel?
> E.g. with linux in an lpar.

This applies to every kernel that runs under a hypervisor. However the
difference is that s390 kernels _always_ have a hypervisor, whereas
other architectures may or may not have one.
In case the mutex spinning code ist causing problem it still can be
switched at run time. That way other architectures can come up with a
solution that fits their needs best.
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