linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 2/4] KVM: document memory barriers for kvm->vcpus/kvm->online

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Date:	Thu, 30 Jul 2015 14:46:12 +0200
From:	Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@...hat.com>
To:	Christian Borntraeger <borntraeger@...ibm.com>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, kvm@...r.kernel.org
Cc:	mtosatti@...hat.com, srutherford@...gle.com, rkrcmar@...hat.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/4] KVM: document memory barriers for
 kvm->vcpus/kvm->online_vcpus

On 30/07/2015 13:40, Christian Borntraeger wrote:
>> > +	/* Pairs with smp_wmb() in kvm_vm_ioctl_create_vcpu, in case
>> > +	 * the caller has read kvm->online_vcpus before (as is the case
>> > +	 * for kvm_for_each_vcpu, for example).
>> > +	 */
>> >  	smp_rmb();
> Hmmm, wouldnt something like smp_mb__after_atomic
> 
>> >  	return kvm->vcpus[i];
>> >  }
>> > diff --git a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
>> > index 8dc4828f623f..093b3d10b411 100644
>> > --- a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
>> > +++ b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
>> > @@ -2206,6 +2206,8 @@ static int kvm_vm_ioctl_create_vcpu(struct kvm *kvm, u32 id)
>> >  	}
>> > 
>> >  	kvm->vcpus[atomic_read(&kvm->online_vcpus)] = vcpu;
> and  smp_mb__before_atomic
> 
> be the better function?
> 
> 
>> > +
>> > +	/* Pairs with smp_rmb() in kvm_get_vcpu.  */
>> >  	smp_wmb();
>> >  	atomic_inc(&kvm->online_vcpus);

The difference between smp_rmb/smp_wmb on one side, and smp_mb on the
other side, is that smp_mb protects previous stores from subsequent loads.

smp_mb__before_atomic would be overkill for atomic_inc, where there's no
race involving the read of online_vcpus (there's only one writer and
it's protected by kvm->lock).  We only care about ordering the
kvm->vcpus store with the kvm->online_vcpus store.  One could use a
hypothetical smp_wmb__before_atomic(), but this is not a fast path and
IIRC only on ia64 it would be different from smp_wmb().

The "after_atomic" bit of smp_mb__after_atomic doesn't include
atomic_read/atomic_set, so it would not be good for kvm_get_vcpu.  But
there is also no previous store to order against, because
kvm->online_vcpus is only written in the KVM_CREATE_VCPU ioctl.  Thus
smp_rmb() is enough.

Paolo
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