linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH tip/core/rcu 2/3] rcu: add debug check for too many rcu_read

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Message-ID: <20100105170848.GB20682@cloud>
Date:	Tue, 5 Jan 2010 09:08:48 -0800
From:	Josh Triplett <josh@...htriplett.org>
To:	"Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>
Cc:	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, mingo@...e.hu, laijs@...fujitsu.com,
	dipankar@...ibm.com, akpm@...ux-foundation.org,
	mathieu.desnoyers@...ymtl.ca, dvhltc@...ibm.com, niv@...ibm.com,
	tglx@...utronix.de, peterz@...radead.org, rostedt@...dmis.org,
	Valdis.Kletnieks@...edu, dhowells@...hat.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH tip/core/rcu 2/3] rcu: add debug check for too many
	rcu_read_unlock()

On Tue, Jan 05, 2010 at 08:21:37AM -0800, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 04, 2010 at 06:28:15PM -0800, Josh Triplett wrote:
> > On Mon, Jan 04, 2010 at 06:19:19PM -0800, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> > > On Mon, Jan 04, 2010 at 06:03:08PM -0800, Josh Triplett wrote:
> > > > On Mon, Jan 04, 2010 at 04:04:01PM -0800, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> > > > > From: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>
> > > > > 
> > > > > TREE_PREEMPT_RCU maintains an rcu_read_lock_nesting counter in the
> > > > > task structure, which happens to be a signed int.  So this patch adds a
> > > > > check for this counter being negative at the end of __rcu_read_unlock().
> > > > > This check is under CONFIG_PROVE_LOCKING, so can be thought of as being
> > > > > part of lockdep.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>
> > > > > ---
> > > > >  kernel/rcutree_plugin.h |    3 +++
> > > > >  1 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
> > > > > 
> > > > > diff --git a/kernel/rcutree_plugin.h b/kernel/rcutree_plugin.h
> > > > > index f11ebd4..e77cdf3 100644
> > > > > --- a/kernel/rcutree_plugin.h
> > > > > +++ b/kernel/rcutree_plugin.h
> > > > > @@ -304,6 +304,9 @@ void __rcu_read_unlock(void)
> > > > >  	if (--ACCESS_ONCE(t->rcu_read_lock_nesting) == 0 &&
> > > > >  	    unlikely(ACCESS_ONCE(t->rcu_read_unlock_special)))
> > > > >  		rcu_read_unlock_special(t);
> > > > > +#ifdef CONFIG_PROVE_LOCKING
> > > > > +	WARN_ON_ONCE(ACCESS_ONCE(t->rcu_read_lock_nesting) < 0);
> > > > > +#endif /* #ifdef CONFIG_PROVE_LOCKING */
> > > > >  }
> > > > >  EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(__rcu_read_unlock);
> > > > 
> > > > Given that you *already* need to access t->rcu_read_lock_nesting here,
> > > > why not just do the test all the time?  Ideally you could access
> > > > t->rcu_read_lock_nesting once, decrement it, and test for both 0 and
> > > > negative.
> > > 
> > > Because I was paranoid about the extra branch.  Perhaps needlessly
> > > paranoid, but this is rcu_read_unlock() we are talking about here.  ;-)
> > > 
> > > You seem to be suggesting making the first test be "<=", then
> > > sorting things out later, but given that both the equals-zero and the
> > > greater-than-zero cases are quite common, I couldn't figure out how to
> > > avoid the extra test and branch in the common case.  Hence the #ifdef.
> > 
> > No, I think you could simply read the predecremented value into a local
> > variable, test it once with == 0, then have the WARN_ON_ONCE, and hope
> > that the compiler figures out it can just test the register once and
> > then do multiple jumps on the same flags.
> > 
> > You could try it and see what code it generates.
> 
> I agree that a smart compiler could share condition-code state, but
> there still will be the extra branch.  (Keep in mind that this is a
> .h file, so #ifdef is permitted -- though I might nevertheless make
> a one-line function/macro.)

Hmmm.  Seems like one untaken branch, with unlikely() even, should prove
sufficiently cheap.  But, as you said, this is rcu_read_unlock() we are
talking about here.  ;)

Fair enough; might as well hide it under CONFIG_PROVE_LOCKING, or
perhaps some RCU-specific debugging-related CONFIG symbol.

- Josh Triplett
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