Date:   Thu, 12 Apr 2018 13:42:55 +0200
From:   "Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)" <mtk.manpages@...il.com>
To:     Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com>
Cc:     lkml <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        Linux API <linux-api@...r.kernel.org>,
        Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>,
        Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
        Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
        Andy Lutomirski <luto@...nel.org>,
        "Paul E . McKenney" <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>,
        Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@...il.com>,
        Andrew Hunter <ahh@...gle.com>,
        Maged Michael <maged.michael@...il.com>,
        Avi Kivity <avi@...lladb.com>,
        Benjamin Herrenschmidt <benh@...nel.crashing.org>,
        Paul Mackerras <paulus@...ba.org>,
        Michael Ellerman <mpe@...erman.id.au>,
        Dave Watson <davejwatson@...com>,
        "H . Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>,
        Andrea Parri <parri.andrea@...il.com>,
        Russell King <linux@...linux.org.uk>,
        Greg Hackmann <ghackmann@...gle.com>,
        Will Deacon <will.deacon@....com>, David Sehr <sehr@...gle.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH manpages] membarrier.2: New membarrier commands introduced
 in 4.16

Hello Mathieu,

On 12 February 2018 at 20:55, Mathieu Desnoyers
<mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com> wrote:
> Document the following membarrier commands introduced in 4.16:
> - MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED (the old enum label
>   MEMBARRIER_CMD_SHARED is now an alias to preserve header backward
>   compatibility),
> - MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED,
> - MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED,
> - MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED_SYNC_CORE,
> - MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED_SYNC_CORE.
>
> Signed-off-by: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com>
> CC: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@...il.com>
> CC: Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>
> CC: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>
> CC: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>
> ---
>  man2/membarrier.2 | 73 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------
>  1 file changed, 62 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/man2/membarrier.2 b/man2/membarrier.2
> index c47bc875a..e878301ca 100644
> --- a/man2/membarrier.2
> +++ b/man2/membarrier.2
> @@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ This command is always supported (on kernels where
>  .BR membarrier ()
>  is provided).
>  .TP
> -.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_SHARED
> +.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL " (since Linux 4.16)"
>  Ensure that all threads from all processes on the system pass through a
>  state where all memory accesses to user-space addresses match program
>  order between entry to and return from the
> @@ -88,7 +88,30 @@ order between entry to and return from the
>  system call.
>  All threads on the system are targeted by this command.
>  .TP
> -.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED " (since Linux 4.14)"
> +.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED " (since Linux 4.16)"
> +Execute a memory barrier on all running threads of all processes which
> +previously registered with
> +.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED .
> +Upon return from system call, the caller thread is ensured that all
> +running threads have passed through a state where all memory accesses to
> +user-space addresses match program order between entry to and return
> +from the system call (non-running threads are de facto in such a state).
> +This only covers threads from processes which registered with
> +.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED .
> +Given that registration is about the intent to receive the barriers, it
> +is valid to invoke
> +.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED
> +from a non-registered process.
> +.IP
> +The "expedited" commands complete faster than the non-expedited ones;
> +they never block, but have the downside of causing extra overhead.
> +.TP
> +.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED " (since Linux 4.16)"
> +Register the process intent to receive
> +.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED
> +memory barriers.
> +.TP
> +.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED " (since Linux 4.14)"
>  Execute a memory barrier on each running thread belonging to the same
>  process as the current thread.
>  Upon return from system call, the calling
> @@ -103,9 +126,29 @@ they never block, but have the downside of causing extra overhead.
>  A process needs to register its intent to use the private
>  expedited command prior to using it.
>  .TP
> -.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED " (since Linux 4.14)"
> +.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED " (since Linux 4.14)"
>  Register the process's intent to use
> -.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED .
> +.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED .
> +.TP
> +.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED_SYNC_CORE " (since Linux 4.16)"
> +In addition to provide memory ordering guarantees described in
> +.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED ,
> +ensure the caller thread, upon return from system call, that all its
> +running threads siblings have executed a core serializing instruction.
> +This only covers threads from the same process as the caller thread.
> +The "expedited" commands complete faster than the non-expedited ones,
> +they never block, but have the downside of causing extra overhead. A
> +process needs to register its intent to use the private expedited sync
> +core command prior to using it.
> +.TP
> +.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED_SYNC_CORE " (since Linux 4.16)"
> +Register the process intent to use
> +.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED_SYNC_CORE .
> +.TP
> +.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_SHARED
> + Alias to
> +.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL .
> +Provided for header backward compatibility.
>  .PP
>  The
>  .I flags
> @@ -137,10 +180,14 @@ The pair ordering is detailed as (O: ordered, X: not ordered):
>  On success, the
>  .B MEMBARRIER_CMD_QUERY
>  operation returns a bit mask of supported commands, and the
> -.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_SHARED ,
> +.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL ,
> +.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED ,
> +.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED ,
>  .B MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED ,
> -and
>  .B MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED ,
> +.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED_SYNC_CORE ,
> +and
> +.B MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED_SYNC_CORE
>  operations return zero.
>  On error, \-1 is returned,
>  and
> @@ -163,10 +210,14 @@ set to 0, error handling is required only for the first call to
>  is invalid, or
>  .I flags
>  is nonzero, or the
> -.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_SHARED
> +.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL
>  command is disabled because the
>  .I nohz_full
> -CPU parameter has been set.
> +CPU parameter has been set, or the
> +.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED_SYNC_CORE
> +and
> +.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED_SYNC_CORE
> +commands are not implemented by the architecture.
>  .TP
>  .B ENOSYS
>  The
> @@ -294,9 +345,9 @@ init_membarrier(void)
>          return \-1;
>      }
>
> -    if (!(ret & MEMBARRIER_CMD_SHARED)) {
> +    if (!(ret & MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL)) {
>          fprintf(stderr,
> -            "membarrier does not support MEMBARRIER_CMD_SHARED\\n");
> +            "membarrier does not support MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL\\n");
>          return \-1;
>      }
>
> @@ -315,7 +366,7 @@ static void
>  slow_path(int *read_a)
>  {
>      b = 1;
> -    membarrier(MEMBARRIER_CMD_SHARED, 0);
> +    membarrier(MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL, 0);
>      *read_a = a;
>  }

I have applied the above patch, and done quite a bit of tweaking, and
pushed the results to the git repo.

I would be grateful if you would read the entire manual page as it
currently stands, to see if anything needs improving. I isolated some
of the more significant changes into a simple patch, shown below, and
especially I'd like your confirmation that all of those changes are
okay.

Cheers,

Michael

diff --git a/man2/membarrier.2 b/man2/membarrier.2
index b3a94f95f..81d573dd5 100644
--- a/man2/membarrier.2
+++ b/man2/membarrier.2
@@ -92,16 +92,18 @@ All threads on the system are targeted by this command.
 Execute a memory barrier on all running threads of all processes that
 previously registered with
 .BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED .
-Upon return from the system call, the calling thread is ensured that all
+Upon return from the system call, the calling thread has a guarantee that all
 running threads have passed through a state where all memory accesses to
 user-space addresses match program order between entry to and return
 from the system call (non-running threads are de facto in such a state).
-This covers only threads from processes which registered with
+This guarantee is provided only for the threads of processes that
+previously registered with
 .BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED .
 Given that registration is about the intent to receive the barriers, it
 is valid to invoke
 .BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED
-from a non-registered process.
+from a process that has not employed
+.BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_GLOBAL_EXPEDITED .
 .IP
 The "expedited" commands complete faster than the non-expedited ones;
 they never block, but have the downside of causing extra overhead.
@@ -113,17 +115,18 @@ memory barriers.
 .TP
 .BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED " (since Linux 4.14)"
 Execute a memory barrier on each running thread belonging to the same
-process as the current thread.
-Upon return from system call, the calling
-thread is assured that all its running threads siblings have passed
+process as the calling thread.
+Upon return from the system call, the calling
+thread has a guarantee that all its running thread siblings have passed
 through a state where all memory accesses to user-space addresses match
 program order between entry to and return from the system call
 (non-running threads are de facto in such a state).
-This covers only threads from the same process as the calling thread.
+This guarantee is provided only for threads in
+the same process as the calling thread.
 .IP
 The "expedited" commands complete faster than the non-expedited ones;
 they never block, but have the downside of causing extra overhead.
-A process needs to register its intent to use the private
+A process must register its intent to use the private
 expedited command prior to using it.
 .TP
 .BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED " (since Linux 4.14)"
@@ -133,12 +136,13 @@ Register the process's intent to use
 .BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED_SYNC_CORE " (since Linux 4.16)"
 In addition to providing the memory ordering guarantees described in
 .BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED ,
-ensure the calling thread, upon return from system call, that all its
-running threads siblings have executed a core serializing instruction.
-This only covers threads from the same process as the calling thread.
+upon return from system call the calling thread has a guarantee that all its
+running thread siblings have executed a core serializing instruction.
+This guarantee is provided only for threads in
+the same process as the calling thread.
 The "expedited" commands complete faster than the non-expedited ones,
 they never block, but have the downside of causing extra overhead.
-A process needs to register its intent to use the private expedited sync
+A process must register its intent to use the private expedited sync
 core command prior to using it.
 .TP
 .BR MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED_SYNC_CORE " (since Linux 4.16)"


-- 
Michael Kerrisk
Linux man-pages maintainer; http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/
Linux/UNIX System Programming Training: http://man7.org/training/

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