linux-kernel - [PATCH v3] membarrier: Document scheduler barrier requirements

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Date:   Tue, 19 Sep 2017 18:02:05 -0400
From:   Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com>
To:     "Paul E . McKenney" <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>
Cc:     linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com>,
        Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
        Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@...il.com>,
        Andrew Hunter <ahh@...gle.com>,
        Maged Michael <maged.michael@...il.com>, gromer@...gle.com,
        Avi Kivity <avi@...lladb.com>,
        Benjamin Herrenschmidt <benh@...nel.crashing.org>,
        Paul Mackerras <paulus@...ba.org>,
        Michael Ellerman <mpe@...erman.id.au>,
        Dave Watson <davejwatson@...com>
Subject: [PATCH v3] membarrier: Document scheduler barrier requirements

Document the membarrier requirement on having a full memory barrier in
__schedule() after coming from user-space, before storing to rq->curr.
It is provided by smp_mb__after_spinlock() in __schedule().

Document that membarrier requires a full barrier on transition from
kernel thread to userspace thread. We currently have an implicit barrier
from atomic_dec_and_test() in mmdrop() that ensures this.

The x86 switch_mm_irqs_off() full barrier is currently provided by many
cpumask update operations as well as write_cr3(). Document that
write_cr3() provides this barrier.

Changes since v1:
- Update comments to match reality for code paths which are after
  storing to rq->curr, before returning to user-space.
Changes since v2:
- Update changelog (smp_mb__before_spinlock -> smp_mb__after_spinlock).

Signed-off-by: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com>
CC: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>
CC: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>
CC: Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@...il.com>
CC: Andrew Hunter <ahh@...gle.com>
CC: Maged Michael <maged.michael@...il.com>
CC: gromer@...gle.com
CC: Avi Kivity <avi@...lladb.com>
CC: Benjamin Herrenschmidt <benh@...nel.crashing.org>
CC: Paul Mackerras <paulus@...ba.org>
CC: Michael Ellerman <mpe@...erman.id.au>
CC: Dave Watson <davejwatson@...com>
---
 arch/x86/mm/tlb.c        | 5 +++++
 include/linux/sched/mm.h | 5 +++++
 kernel/sched/core.c      | 9 +++++++++
 3 files changed, 19 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/x86/mm/tlb.c b/arch/x86/mm/tlb.c
index 1ab3821f9e26..74f94fe4aded 100644
--- a/arch/x86/mm/tlb.c
+++ b/arch/x86/mm/tlb.c
@@ -144,6 +144,11 @@ void switch_mm_irqs_off(struct mm_struct *prev, struct mm_struct *next,
 	}
 #endif
 
+	/*
+	 * The membarrier system call requires a full memory barrier
+	 * before returning to user-space, after storing to rq->curr.
+	 * Writing to CR3 provides that full memory barrier.
+	 */
 	if (real_prev == next) {
 		VM_BUG_ON(this_cpu_read(cpu_tlbstate.ctxs[prev_asid].ctx_id) !=
 			  next->context.ctx_id);
diff --git a/include/linux/sched/mm.h b/include/linux/sched/mm.h
index 3a19c253bdb1..766cc47c4d7c 100644
--- a/include/linux/sched/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/sched/mm.h
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ static inline void mmgrab(struct mm_struct *mm)
 extern void __mmdrop(struct mm_struct *);
 static inline void mmdrop(struct mm_struct *mm)
 {
+	/*
+	 * The implicit full barrier implied by atomic_dec_and_test is
+	 * required by the membarrier system call before returning to
+	 * user-space, after storing to rq->curr.
+	 */
 	if (unlikely(atomic_dec_and_test(&mm->mm_count)))
 		__mmdrop(mm);
 }
diff --git a/kernel/sched/core.c b/kernel/sched/core.c
index 18a6966567da..7977b25acf54 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/core.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/core.c
@@ -2658,6 +2658,12 @@ static struct rq *finish_task_switch(struct task_struct *prev)
 	finish_arch_post_lock_switch();
 
 	fire_sched_in_preempt_notifiers(current);
+	/*
+	 * When transitioning from a kernel thread to a userspace
+	 * thread, mmdrop()'s implicit full barrier is required by the
+	 * membarrier system call, because the current active_mm can
+	 * become the current mm without going through switch_mm().
+	 */
 	if (mm)
 		mmdrop(mm);
 	if (unlikely(prev_state == TASK_DEAD)) {
@@ -3299,6 +3305,9 @@ static void __sched notrace __schedule(bool preempt)
 	 * Make sure that signal_pending_state()->signal_pending() below
 	 * can't be reordered with __set_current_state(TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE)
 	 * done by the caller to avoid the race with signal_wake_up().
+	 *
+	 * The membarrier system call requires a full memory barrier
+	 * after coming from user-space, before storing to rq->curr.
 	 */
 	rq_lock(rq, &rf);
 	smp_mb__after_spinlock();
-- 
2.11.0