linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 1/1] percpu_rw_semaphore: reimplement to not block the readers unnecessarily

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Date:	Fri, 2 Nov 2012 17:18:15 +0100
From:	Oleg Nesterov <oleg@...hat.com>
To:	"Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>
Cc:	Mikulas Patocka <mpatocka@...hat.com>,
	Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>,
	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...e.hu>,
	Srikar Dronamraju <srikar@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>,
	Ananth N Mavinakayanahalli <ananth@...ibm.com>,
	Anton Arapov <anton@...hat.com>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/1] percpu_rw_semaphore: reimplement to not block the
	readers unnecessarily

On 11/01, Oleg Nesterov wrote:
>
> On 11/01, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> >
> > OK, so it looks to me that this code relies on synchronize_sched()
> > forcing a memory barrier on each CPU executing in the kernel.
>
> No, the patch tries to avoid this assumption, but probably I missed
> something.
>
> > 1.	A task running on CPU 0 currently write-holds the lock.
> >
> > 2.	CPU 1 is running in the kernel, executing a longer-than-average
> > 	loop of normal instructions (no atomic instructions or memory
> > 	barriers).
> >
> > 3.	CPU 0 invokes percpu_up_write(), calling up_write(),
> > 	synchronize_sched(), and finally mutex_unlock().
>
> And my expectation was, this should be enough because ...
>
> > 4.	CPU 1 executes percpu_down_read(), which calls update_fast_ctr(),
>
> since update_fast_ctr does preempt_disable/enable it should see all
> modifications done by CPU 0.
>
> IOW. Suppose that the writer (CPU 0) does
>
> 	percpu_done_write();
> 	STORE;
> 	percpu_up_write();
>
> This means
>
> 	STORE;
> 	synchronize_sched();
> 	mutex_unlock();
>
> Now. Do you mean that the next preempt_disable/enable can see the
> result of mutex_unlock() but not STORE?

So far I think this is not possible, so the code doesn't need the
additional wstate/barriers.

> > +static bool update_fast_ctr(struct percpu_rw_semaphore *brw, int val)
> > +{
> > +	bool success = false;
>
> 	int state;
>
> > +
> > +	preempt_disable();
> > +	if (likely(!mutex_is_locked(&brw->writer_mutex))) {
>
> 	state = ACCESS_ONCE(brw->wstate);
> 	if (likely(!state)) {
>
> > +		__this_cpu_add(*brw->fast_read_ctr, val);
> > +		success = true;
>
> 	} else if (state & WSTATE_NEED_MB) {
> 		__this_cpu_add(*brw->fast_read_ctr, val);
> 		smb_mb(); /* Order increment against critical section. */
> 		success = true;
> 	}

...

> > +void percpu_up_write(struct percpu_rw_semaphore *brw)
> > +{
> > +	/* allow the new readers, but only the slow-path */
> > +	up_write(&brw->rw_sem);
>
> 	ACCESS_ONCE(brw->wstate) = WSTATE_NEED_MB;
>
> > +
> > +	/* insert the barrier before the next fast-path in down_read */
> > +	synchronize_sched();

But update_fast_ctr() should see mutex_is_locked(), obiously down_write()
must ensure this.

So update_fast_ctr() can execute the WSTATE_NEED_MB code only if it
races with

> 	ACCESS_ONCE(brw->wstate) = 0;
>
> > +	mutex_unlock(&brw->writer_mutex);

these 2 stores and sees them in reverse order.



I guess that mutex_is_locked() in update_fast_ctr() looks a bit confusing.
It means no-fast-path for the reader, we could use ->state instead.

And even ->writer_mutex should go away if we want to optimize the
write-contended case, but I think this needs another patch on top of
this initial implementation.

Oleg.

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