linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] kcov: convert kcov.refcount to refcount

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Date:   Tue, 22 Jan 2019 10:04:56 +0100
From:   Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>
To:     Alan Stern <stern@...land.harvard.edu>
Cc:     Dmitry Vyukov <dvyukov@...gle.com>,
        Elena Reshetova <elena.reshetova@...el.com>,
        Andrea Parri <andrea.parri@...rulasolutions.com>,
        Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>,
        "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...ux.ibm.com>,
        Will Deacon <will.deacon@....com>,
        Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
        Andrey Ryabinin <aryabinin@...tuozzo.com>,
        Anders Roxell <anders.roxell@...aro.org>,
        Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@....com>,
        LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] kcov: convert kcov.refcount to refcount_t

On Mon, Jan 21, 2019 at 11:05:03AM -0500, Alan Stern wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Jan 2019, Peter Zijlstra wrote:

> > Any additional ordering; like the one you have above; are not strictly
> > required for the proper functioning of the refcount. Rather, you rely on
> > additional ordering and will need to provide this explicitly:
> > 
> > 
> > 	if (refcount_dec_and_text(&x->rc)) {
> > 		/*
> > 		 * Comment that explains what we order against....
> > 		 */
> > 		smp_mb__after_atomic();
> > 		BUG_ON(!x->done*);
> > 		free(x);
> > 	}
> > 
> > 
> > Also; these patches explicitly mention that refcount_t is weaker,
> > specifically to make people aware of this difference.
> > 
> > A full smp_mb() (or two) would also be much more expensive on a number
> > of platforms and in the vast majority of the cases it is not required.
> 
> How about adding smp_rmb() into refcount_dec_and_test()?  That would
> give acq+rel semantics, which seems to be what people will expect.  And
> it wouldn't be nearly as expensive as a full smp_mb().

Yes, that's a very good suggestion.

I suppose we can add smp_acquire__after_ctrl_dep() on the true branch.
Then it reall does become rel_acq.

A wee something like so (I couldn't find an arm64 refcount, even though
I have distinct memories of talk about it).

This isn't compiled, and obviously needs comment/documentation updates
to go along with it.

---
 arch/x86/include/asm/refcount.h | 9 ++++++++-
 lib/refcount.c                  | 7 ++++++-
 2 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/refcount.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/refcount.h
index dbaed55c1c24..6f7a1eb345b4 100644
--- a/arch/x86/include/asm/refcount.h
+++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/refcount.h
@@ -74,9 +74,16 @@ bool refcount_sub_and_test(unsigned int i, refcount_t *r)
 
 static __always_inline __must_check bool refcount_dec_and_test(refcount_t *r)
 {
-	return GEN_UNARY_SUFFIXED_RMWcc(LOCK_PREFIX "decl",
+	bool ret = GEN_UNARY_SUFFIXED_RMWcc(LOCK_PREFIX "decl",
 					REFCOUNT_CHECK_LT_ZERO,
 					r->refs.counter, e, "cx");
+
+	if (ret) {
+		smp_acquire__after_ctrl_dep();
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	return false;
 }
 
 static __always_inline __must_check
diff --git a/lib/refcount.c b/lib/refcount.c
index ebcf8cd49e05..8276ad349d48 100644
--- a/lib/refcount.c
+++ b/lib/refcount.c
@@ -190,7 +190,12 @@ bool refcount_sub_and_test_checked(unsigned int i, refcount_t *r)
 
 	} while (!atomic_try_cmpxchg_release(&r->refs, &val, new));
 
-	return !new;
+	if (!new) {
+		smp_acquire__after_ctrl_dep();
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	return false;
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(refcount_sub_and_test_checked);