linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH RFC tip/core/rcu 14/14] rcu/nohz: Make multi_cpu

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Date:   Sun, 4 Aug 2019 21:19:01 -0700
From:   "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...ux.ibm.com>
To:     Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>
Cc:     rcu@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        mingo@...nel.org, jiangshanlai@...il.com, dipankar@...ibm.com,
        akpm@...ux-foundation.org, mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com,
        josh@...htriplett.org, tglx@...utronix.de, rostedt@...dmis.org,
        dhowells@...hat.com, edumazet@...gle.com, fweisbec@...il.com,
        oleg@...hat.com, joel@...lfernandes.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH RFC tip/core/rcu 14/14] rcu/nohz: Make multi_cpu_stop()
 enable tick on all online CPUs

On Sun, Aug 04, 2019 at 01:24:46PM -0700, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 04, 2019 at 11:41:59AM -0700, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> > On Sun, Aug 04, 2019 at 04:48:35PM +0200, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> > > On Sun, Aug 04, 2019 at 04:43:17PM +0200, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> > > > On Fri, Aug 02, 2019 at 08:15:01AM -0700, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> > > > > The multi_cpu_stop() function relies on the scheduler to gain control from
> > > > > whatever is running on the various online CPUs, including any nohz_full
> > > > > CPUs running long loops in kernel-mode code.  Lack of the scheduler-clock
> > > > > interrupt on such CPUs can delay multi_cpu_stop() for several minutes
> > > > > and can also result in RCU CPU stall warnings.  This commit therefore
> > > > > causes multi_cpu_stop() to enable the scheduler-clock interrupt on all
> > > > > online CPUs.
> > > > 
> > > > This sounds wrong; should we be fixing sched_can_stop_tick() instead to
> > > > return false when the stop task is runnable?
> > 
> > Agreed.  However, it is proving surprisingly hard to come up with a
> > code sequence that has the effect of rcu_nocb without nohz_full.
> > And rcu_nocb works just fine.  With nohz_full also in place, I am
> > decreasing the failure rate, but it still fails, perhaps a few times
> > per hour of TREE04 rcutorture on an eight-CPU system.  (My 12-CPU
> > system stubbornly refuses to fail.  Good thing I kept the eight-CPU
> > system around, I guess.)
> > 
> > When I arrive at some sequence of actions that actually work reliably,
> > then by all means let's put it somewhere in the NO_HZ_FULL machinery!
> > 
> > > And even without that; I don't understand how we're not instantly
> > > preempted the moment we enqueue the stop task.
> > 
> > There is no preemption because CONFIG_PREEMPT=n for the scenarios still
> > having trouble.  Yes, there are cond_resched() calls, but they don't do
> > anything unless the appropriate flags are set, which won't always happen
> > without the tick, apparently.  Or without -something- that isn't always
> > happening as it should.
> > 
> > > Any enqueue, should go through check_preempt_curr() which will be an
> > > instant resched_curr() when we just woke the stop class.
> > 
> > I did try hitting all of the CPUs with resched_cpu().  Ten times on each
> > CPU with a ten-jiffy wait between each.  This might have decreased the
> > probability of excessively long CPU-stopper waits by a factor of two or
> > three, but it did not eliminate the excessively long waits.
> > 
> > What else should I try?
> > 
> > For example, are there any diagnostics I could collect, say from within
> > the CPU stopper when things are taking too long?  I see CPU-stopper
> > delays in excess of five -minutes-, so this is anything but subtle.
> 
> For whatever it is worth, the things on my list include using 25 rounds
> of resched_cpu() on each CPU with ten-jiffy wait between each (instead of
> merely 10 rounds), using waitqueues or some such to actually force a
> meaningful context switch on the other CPUs, etc.

Which appears to have reduced the bug rate by about a factor of two.
(But statistics and all that.)

I am now trying the same test, but with CONFIG_PREEMPT=y and without
quite so much hammering on the scheduler.  This is keying off Peter's
earlier mention of preemption.  If this turns out to be solid, perhaps
we outlaw CONFIG_PREEMPT=n && CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL=y?

							Thanx, Paul