Date:   Thu, 18 May 2023 20:18:54 -0300
From:   Martin Rodriguez Reboredo <yakoyoku@...il.com>
To:     Alice Ryhl <aliceryhl@...gle.com>, rust-for-linux@...r.kernel.org
Cc:     Miguel Ojeda <ojeda@...nel.org>,
        Wedson Almeida Filho <wedsonaf@...il.com>,
        Tejun Heo <tj@...nel.org>,
        Lai Jiangshan <jiangshanlai@...il.com>,
        Alex Gaynor <alex.gaynor@...il.com>,
        Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@...il.com>, Gary Guo <gary@...yguo.net>,
        Björn Roy Baron <bjorn3_gh@...tonmail.com>,
        Benno Lossin <benno.lossin@...ton.me>,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, patches@...ts.linux.dev
Subject: Re: [PATCH v1 5/7] rust: workqueue: add helper for defining
 work_struct fields

On 5/17/23 17:31, Alice Ryhl wrote:
> The main challenge with defining `work_struct` fields is making sure
> that the function pointer stored in the `work_struct` is appropriate for
> the work item type it is embedded in. It needs to know the offset of the
> `work_struct` field being used (even if there are several!) so that it
> can do a `container_of`, and it needs to know the type of the work item
> so that it can call into the right user-provided code. All of this needs
> to happen in a way that provides a safe API to the user, so that users
> of the workqueue cannot mix up the function pointers.
> 
> There are three important pieces that are relevant when doing this. This
> commit will use traits so that they know about each other according to
> the following cycle:
> 
>   * The pointer type. It knows the type of the work item struct.
>   * The work item struct. It knows the offset of its `work_struct` field.
>   * The `work_struct` field. It knows the pointer type.
> 
> There's nothing special about making the pointer type know the type of
> the struct it points at. Pointers generally always know that
> information.
> 
> However, making the `work_struct` field know about the pointer type is
> less commonly seen. This is done by using a generic parameter: the
> `work_struct` field will have the type `Work<T>`, where T will be the
> pointer type in use. The pointer type is required to implement the
> `WorkItemAdapter` trait, which defines the function pointer to store in
> the `work_struct` field. The `Work<T>` type guarantees that the
> `work_struct` inside it uses `<T as WorkItemAdapter>::run` as its
> function pointer.
> 
> Finally, to make the work item struct know the offset of its
> `work_struct` field, we use a trait called `HasWork<T>`. If a type
> implements this trait, then the type declares that, at the given offset,
> there is a field of type `Work<T>`. The trait is marked unsafe because
> the OFFSET constant must be correct, but we provide an `impl_has_work!`
> macro that can safely implement `HasWork<T>` on a type. The macro
> expands to something that only compiles if the specified field really
> has the type `Work<T>`. It is used like this:
> 
> ```
> struct MyWorkItem {
>      work_field: Work<Arc<MyWorkItem>>,
> }
> 
> impl_has_work! {
>      impl HasWork<Arc<MyWorkItem>> for MyWorkItem { self.work_field }
> }
> ```
> 
> So to summarize, given a pointer to an allocation containing a work
> item, you can use the `HasWork<T>` trait to offset the pointer to the
> `work_struct` field. The function pointer in the `work_struct` field is
> guaranteed to be a function that knows what the original pointer type
> was, and using that information, it can undo the offset operation by
> looking up what the offset was via the `HasWork<T>` trait.
> 
> This design supports work items with multiple `work_struct` fields by
> using different pointer types. For example, you might define structs
> like these:
> 
> ```
> struct MyPointer1(Arc<MyWorkItem>);
> struct MyPointer2(Arc<MyWorkItem>);
> 
> struct MyWorkItem {
>      work1: Work<MyPointer1>,
>      work2: Work<MyPointer2>,
> }
> ```
> 
> Then, the wrapper structs `MyPointer1` and `MyPointer2` will take the
> role as the pointer type. By using one or the other, you tell the
> workqueue which `work_struct` field to use. This pattern is called the
> "newtype" pattern.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Alice Ryhl <aliceryhl@...gle.com>
> ---
> [...]

Reviewed-by: Martin Rodriguez Reboredo <yakoyoku@...il.com>

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