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Message-Id: <20181211212204.GR4170@linux.ibm.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2018 13:22:04 -0800
From: "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...ux.ibm.com>
To: Alan Stern <stern@...land.harvard.edu>
Cc: David Goldblatt <davidtgoldblatt@...il.com>,
mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com,
Florian Weimer <fweimer@...hat.com>, triegel@...hat.com,
libc-alpha@...rceware.org, andrea.parri@...rulasolutions.com,
will.deacon@....com, peterz@...radead.org, boqun.feng@...il.com,
npiggin@...il.com, dhowells@...hat.com, j.alglave@....ac.uk,
luc.maranget@...ia.fr, akiyks@...il.com, dlustig@...dia.com,
linux-arch@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] Linux: Implement membarrier function
On Tue, Dec 11, 2018 at 03:09:33PM -0500, Alan Stern wrote:
> On Tue, 11 Dec 2018, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
>
> > > Rewriting the litmus test in these terms gives:
> > >
> > > P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5
> > > Wa=2 Wb=2 Wc=2 [mb23] [mb14] [mb05]
> > > mb0s mb1s mb2s Wd=2 We=2 Wf=2
> > > mb0e mb1e mb2e Re=0 Rf=0 Ra=0
> > > Rb=0 Rc=0 Rd=0
> > >
> > > Here the brackets in "[mb23]", "[mb14]", and "[mb05]" mean that the
> > > positions of these barriers in their respective threads' program
> > > orderings is undetermined; they need not come at the top as shown.
> > >
> > > (Also, in case David is unfamiliar with it, the "Wa=2" notation is
> > > shorthand for "Write 2 to a" and "Rb=0" is short for "Read 0 from b".)
> > >
> > > Finally, here are a few facts which may be well known and obvious, but
> > > I'll state them anyway:
> > >
> > > A CPU cannot reorder instructions across a memory barrier.
> > > If x is po-after a barrier then x executes after the barrier
> > > is finished.
> > >
> > > If a store is po-before a barrier then the store propagates
> > > to every CPU before the barrier finishes.
> > >
> > > If a store propagates to some CPU before a load on that CPU
> > > reads from the same location, then the load will obtain the
> > > value from that store or a co-later store. This implies that
> > > if a load obtains a value co-earlier than some store then the
> > > load must have executed before the store propagated to the
> > > load's CPU.
> > >
> > > The proof consists of three main stages, each requiring three steps.
> > > Using the facts that b - f are all read as 0, I'll show that P1
> > > executes Rc before P3 executes Re, then that P0 executes Rb before P4
> > > executes Rf, and lastly that P5's Ra must obtain 2, not 0. This will
> > > demonstrate that the litmus test is not allowed.
> > >
> > > 1. Suppose that mb23 ends up coming po-later than Wd in P3.
> > > Then we would have:
> > >
> > > Wd propagates to P2 < mb23 < mb2e < Rd,
> > >
> > > and so Rd would obtain 2, not 0. Hence mb23 must come
> > > po-before Wd (as shown in the listing): mb23 < Wd.
> > >
> > > 2. Since mb23 therefore occurs po-before Re and instructions
> > > cannot be reordered across barriers, mb23 < Re.
> > >
> > > 3. Since Rc obtains 0, we must have:
> > >
> > > Rc < Wc propagates to P1 < mb2s < mb23 < Re.
> > >
> > > Thus Rc < Re.
> > >
> > > 4. Suppose that mb14 ends up coming po-later than We in P4.
> > > Then we would have:
> > >
> > > We propagates to P3 < mb14 < mb1e < Rc < Re,
> > >
> > > and so Re would obtain 2, not 0. Hence mb14 must come
> > > po-before We (as shown in the listing): mb14 < We.
> > >
> > > 5. Since mb14 therefore occurs po-before Rf and instructions
> > > cannot be reordered across barriers, mb14 < Rf.
> > >
> > > 6. Since Rb obtains 0, we must have:
> > >
> > > Rb < Wb propagates to P0 < mb1s < mb14 < Rf.
> > >
> > > Thus Rb < Rf.
> > >
> > > 7. Suppose that mb05 ends up coming po-later than Wf in P5.
> > > Then we would have:
> > >
> > > Wf propagates to P4 < mb05 < mb0e < Rb < Rf,
> > >
> > > and so Rf would obtain 2, not 0. Hence mb05 must come
> > > po-before Wf (as shown in the listing): mb05 < Wf.
> > >
> > > 8. Since mb05 therefore occurs po-before Ra and instructions
> > > cannot be reordered across barriers, mb05 < Ra.
> > >
> > > 9. Now we have:
> > >
> > > Wa propagates to P5 < mb0s < mb05 < Ra,
> > >
> > > and so Ra must obtain 2, not 0. QED.
> >
> > Like this, then, with maximal reordering of P3-P5's reads?
> >
> > P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5
> > Wa=2
> > mb0s
> > [mb05]
> > mb0e Ra=0
> > Rb=0 Wb=2
> > mb1s
> > [mb14]
> > mb1e Rf=0
> > Rc=0 Wc=2 Wf=2
> > mb2s
> > [mb23]
> > mb2e Re=0
> > Rd=0 We=2
> > Wd=2
>
> Yes, that's right. This shows how P5's Ra must obtain 2 instead of 0.
>
> > But don't the sys_membarrier() calls affect everyone, especially given
> > the shared-variable communication?
>
> They do, but the other effects are irrelevant for this proof.
If I understand correctly, the shared-variable communication within
sys_membarrier() is included in your proof in the form of ordering
between memory barriers in the mainline sys_membarrier() code and
in the IPI handlers.
> > If so, why wouldn't this more strict
> > variant hold?
> >
> > P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5
> > Wa=2
> > mb0s
> > [mb05] [mb05] [mb05]
>
> You have misunderstood the naming scheme. mb05 is the barrier injected
> by P0's sys_membarrier call into P5. So the three barriers above
> should be named "mb03", "mb04", and "mb05". And you left out mb01 and
> mb02.
The former is a copy-and-paste error on my part, the latter was
intentional because the IPIs among P0, P1, and P2 don't seem to
strengthen the ordering.
> > mb0e
> > Rb=0 Wb=2
> > mb1s
> > [mb14] [mb14] [mb14]
> > mb1e
> > Rc=0 Wc=2
> > mb2s
> > [mb23] [mb23] [mb23]
> > mb2e Re=0 Rf=0 Ra=0
> > Rd=0 We=2 Wf=2
> > Wd=2
>
> Yes, this does hold. But since it doesn't affect the end result,
> there's no point in mentioning all those other barriers.
>
> > In which case, wouldn't this cycle be forbidden even if it had only one
> > sys_membarrier() call?
>
> No, it wouldn't. I don't understand why you might think it would.
Because I hadn't yet thought of the scenario I showed below.
> This is just like RCU, if you imagine a tiny critical section between
> each adjacent pair of instructions. You wouldn't expect RCU to enforce
> ordering among six CPUs with only one synchronize_rcu call.
Yes, I do now agree in light of the scenario shown below.
> > Ah, but the IPIs are not necessarily synchronized across the CPUs,
> > so that the following could happen:
> >
> > P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5
> > Wa=2
> > mb0s
> > [mb05] [mb05] [mb05]
> > mb0e Ra=0
> > Rb=0 Wb=2
> > mb1s
> > [mb14] [mb14]
> > Rf=0
> > Wf=2
> > [mb14]
> > mb1e
> > Rc=0 Wc=2
> > mb2s
> > [mb23]
> > Re=0
> > We=2
> > [mb23] [mb23]
> > mb2e
> > Rd=0
> > Wd=2
>
> Yes it could. But even in this execution you would end up with Ra=2
> instead of Ra=0.
Agreed. Or I should have said that the above execution is forbidden,
either way.
> > I guess in light of this post in 2001, I really don't have an excuse,
> > do I? ;-)
> >
> > https://lists.gt.net/linux/kernel/223555
> >
> > Or am I still missing something here?
>
> You tell me...
I think I am on board. ;-)
Thanx, Paul
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