linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH RFC 10/14] block, bfq: add Early Queue Merge (EQM)

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Date:   Wed, 15 Mar 2017 13:01:08 +0100
From:   Paolo Valente <paolo.valente@...aro.org>
To:     Jens Axboe <axboe@...nel.dk>
Cc:     Tejun Heo <tj@...nel.org>, Fabio Checconi <fchecconi@...il.com>,
        Arianna Avanzini <avanzini.arianna@...il.com>,
        linux-block@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        ulf.hansson@...aro.org, linus.walleij@...aro.org,
        broonie@...nel.org, Mauro Andreolini <mauro.andreolini@...more.it>
Subject: Re: [PATCH RFC 10/14] block, bfq: add Early Queue Merge (EQM)

> Il giorno 07 mar 2017, alle ore 18:44, Jens Axboe <axboe@...nel.dk> ha scritto:
> 
> On 03/04/2017 09:01 AM, Paolo Valente wrote:
>> @@ -560,6 +600,15 @@ struct bfq_data {
>> 	struct bfq_io_cq *bio_bic;
>> 	/* bfqq associated with the task issuing current bio for merging */
>> 	struct bfq_queue *bio_bfqq;
>> +
>> +	/*
>> +	 * io context to put right after bfqd->lock is released. This
>> +	 * filed is used to perform put_io_context, when needed, to
>> +	 * after the scheduler lock has been released, and thus
>> +	 * prevent an ioc->lock from being possibly taken while the
>> +	 * scheduler lock is being held.
>> +	 */
>> +	struct io_context *ioc_to_put;
>> };
> 
> The logic around this is nasty, effectively you end up having locking
> around sections of code instea of structures, which is never a good
> idea.
> 
> The helper functions for unlocking and dropping the ioc add to the mess
> as well.
> 

Hi Jens,
fortunately I seem to have found and fixed the bug causing the failure
your reported in one of your previous emails, so I've started addressing
the issue you raise here.  But your suggestion below raised doubts
that I was not able to solve.  So I'm bailing out and asking for help.

> Can't we simply pass back a pointer to an ioc to free? That should be
> possible, given that we must have grabbed the bfqd lock ourselves
> further up in the call chain. So we _know_ that we'll drop it later on.
> If that wasn't the case, the existing logic wouldn't work.
> 

One of the two functions that discover that an ioc has to bee freed,
namely __bfq_bfqd_reset_in_service, is invoked at the end of several
relatively long chains of function invocations.  The heads of these
chains take and release the scheduler lock.  One example is:

bfq_dispatch_request -> __bfq_dispatch_request -> bfq_select_queue -> bfq_bfqq_expire  -> __bfq_bfqq_expire -> __bfq_bfqd_reset_in_service

To implement your proposal, all the functions involved in these chains
should be extended to pass back the ioc to put.  The resulting, heavy
version of the code seems really unadvisable, and prone to errors when
one modifies or adds some chain.

So I have certainly misunderstood something.  As usual, to help you
help me more quickly, here is a summary of what I have understood on
this matter.

1.  For similar, if not exactly the same, lock-nesting issue related
to io-context putting, deferred work is used.  Probably deferred work
is used also for other reasons, but for sure it does solve this issue too.

2.  My solution (which I'm not defending; I'm just trying to
understand) solves the same issue as above: put the io
context after the other lock is released.  But it solves it with no
work-queueing overhead.  Instead of queueing work, it 'queues' the ioc
to put, and puts it right after releasing the scheduler lock.

Where is my mistake?  And what is the correct interpretation of your
proposal to pass back the pointer (instead of storing it in a field of
the device data structure)?

Thanks,
Paolo

> -- 
> Jens Axboe
>