linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v2 0/9] Remove spin_unlock

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Date:   Sat, 8 Jul 2017 14:30:19 +0200
From:   Ingo Molnar <mingo@...nel.org>
To:     "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>
Cc:     Manfred Spraul <manfred@...orfullife.com>,
        Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
        David Laight <David.Laight@...LAB.COM>,
        "linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        "netfilter-devel@...r.kernel.org" <netfilter-devel@...r.kernel.org>,
        "netdev@...r.kernel.org" <netdev@...r.kernel.org>,
        "oleg@...hat.com" <oleg@...hat.com>,
        "akpm@...ux-foundation.org" <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
        "mingo@...hat.com" <mingo@...hat.com>,
        "dave@...olabs.net" <dave@...olabs.net>,
        "tj@...nel.org" <tj@...nel.org>, "arnd@...db.de" <arnd@...db.de>,
        "linux-arch@...r.kernel.org" <linux-arch@...r.kernel.org>,
        "will.deacon@....com" <will.deacon@....com>,
        "stern@...land.harvard.edu" <stern@...land.harvard.edu>,
        "parri.andrea@...il.com" <parri.andrea@...il.com>,
        "torvalds@...ux-foundation.org" <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 0/9] Remove spin_unlock_wait()


* Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com> wrote:

> On Sat, Jul 08, 2017 at 10:35:43AM +0200, Ingo Molnar wrote:
> > 
> > * Manfred Spraul <manfred@...orfullife.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > Hi Ingo,
> > > 
> > > On 07/07/2017 10:31 AM, Ingo Molnar wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > There's another, probably just as significant advantage: queued_spin_unlock_wait()
> > > > is 'read-only', while spin_lock()+spin_unlock() dirties the lock cache line. On
> > > > any bigger system this should make a very measurable difference - if
> > > > spin_unlock_wait() is ever used in a performance critical code path.
> > > At least for ipc/sem:
> > > Dirtying the cacheline (in the slow path) allows to remove a smp_mb() in the
> > > hot path.
> > > So for sem_lock(), I either need a primitive that dirties the cacheline or
> > > sem_lock() must continue to use spin_lock()/spin_unlock().
> > 
> > Technically you could use spin_trylock()+spin_unlock() and avoid the lock acquire 
> > spinning on spin_unlock() and get very close to the slow path performance of a 
> > pure cacheline-dirtying behavior.
> > 
> > But adding something like spin_barrier(), which purely dirties the lock cacheline, 
> > would be even faster, right?
> 
> Interestingly enough, the arm64 and powerpc implementations of
> spin_unlock_wait() were very close to what it sounds like you are
> describing.

So could we perhaps solve all our problems by defining the generic version thusly:

void spin_unlock_wait(spinlock_t *lock)
{
	if (spin_trylock(lock))
		spin_unlock(lock);
}

... and perhaps rename it to spin_barrier() [or whatever proper name there would 
be]?

Architectures can still optimize it, to remove the small window where the lock is 
held locally - as long as the ordering is at least as strong as the generic 
version.

This would have various advantages:

 - semantics are well-defined

 - the generic implementation is already pretty well optimized (no spinning)

 - it would make it usable for the IPC performance optimization

 - architectures could still optimize it to eliminate the window where the lock is
   held locally - if there's such instructions available.

Was this proposed before, or am I missing something?

Thanks,

	Ingo