Date:   Fri, 23 Jun 2023 15:07:30 -0700
From:   "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...nel.org>
To:     Alan Huang <mmpgouride@...il.com>
Cc:     will@...nel.org, rcu@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] rcu: Add necessary WRITE_ONCE()

On Sat, Jun 24, 2023 at 02:31:12AM +0800, Alan Huang wrote:
> 
> > 2023年6月23日 下午1:17，Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@...nel.org> 写道：
> > 
> > On Wed, Jun 21, 2023 at 10:08:28AM +0800, Alan Huang wrote:
> >> 
> >>> 2023年6月21日 06:26，Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@...nel.org> 写道：
> >>> 
> >>> On Tue, Jun 20, 2023 at 05:13:46PM +0000, Alan Huang wrote:
> >>>> Commit c54a2744497d("list: Add hlist_unhashed_lockless()") and
> >>>> commit 860c8802ace1("rcu: Use WRITE_ONCE() for assignments to
> >>>> ->pprev for hlist_nulls") added various WRITE_ONCE() to pair with
> >>>> the READ_ONCE() in hlist_unhashed_lockless(), but there are still
> >>>> some places where WRITE_ONCE() was not added, this commit adds that.
> >>>> 
> >>>> Also add WRITE_ONCE() to pair with the READ_ONCE() in hlist_empty().
> >>>> 
> >>>> Signed-off-by: Alan Huang <mmpgouride@...il.com>
> >>> 
> >>> On hlist_nulls_add_tail_rcu(), good catch, thank you!
> >>> 
> >>> On the others, are there really cases where a lockless read races with
> >>> the update?  At first glance, that sounds like a usage bug.  For example,
> >>> as I understand it, when you use something like hlist_del(), you are
> >>> supposed to ensure that there are no concurrent readers.  Which is the
> >>> point of the assignment of the special value LIST_POISON2, right?
> >> 
> >> Do you mean there are cases where a lockless read races with hlist_add_head/hlist_add_before
> >> hlist_add_behind/__hlist_del, but there is no real case where a lockless read races with the hlist_del_init/hlist_del
> >> hlist_move_list?
> >> 
> >> There may be no real case where a lockless read races with the hlist_del_init/hlist_del
> >> hlist_move_list. But for the sake of completeness, I added those WRITE_ONCE, after all, if there is WRITE_ONCE
> >> in __hlist_del, why not add WRITE_ONCE in its caller, like hlist_del()?
> > 
> > You might well have located a larger issue.  We want to be able to use
> > KCSAN to find unintended data races, but as you noted, there might
> > be different requirements for RCU-protected linked lists and for
> > lock-protected linked lists.  If there are, then there is probably
> > existing linked-list code that is using the wrong primitive, for
> > example, using (or failing to use) the one that Eric Dumazet provided.
> > For example, mismatched API usage might be causing the differences in
> > uses of _ONCE() primitives that you are calling out.
> 
> I noticed a thread:
> 
> https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20200324153643.15527-2-will@kernel.org/
> 
> It seems like Will wanted to remove that hlist_unhashed_lockless()?
> But I can’t find any further updates.

Indeed, the tricky part here is getting optimal data-race detection
from KCSAN.  You noted (I suspect correctly) that the _rcu() list_head
functions want the ->next pointer marked with *_ONCE(), but that the
other function might well instead want the ->prev or ->pprev pointer
marked with *_ONCE(), with the ->next pointer accesses unmarked.

Working this out will require looking at the use cases.  And running
KCSAN.  ;-)

> Will: Can you tell me what happened later?
> 
> > Would you be interested in digging into this?
> 
> I’d like to.
> 
> > You will of course need to be able to build and run kernels with KCSAN
> > enabled, which is not hard to do given a laptop that can build a kernel
> > and run a guest OS.
> 
> I’ll do that, :)

Very good, looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

Here are some LWN articles that should help, especially the last two:

https://lwn.net/Articles/793253/
	"Who's afraid of a big bad optimizing compiler?"
https://lwn.net/Articles/799218/
	"Calibrating your fear of big bad optimizing compilers"
https://lwn.net/Articles/816850/
	"Concurrency bugs should fear the big bad data-race detector (part 1)"
https://lwn.net/Articles/816854/
	"Concurrency bugs should fear the big bad data-race detector (part 2)"

							Thanx, Paul

> >> Thanks,
> >> Alan
> >> 
> >>> 
> >>> Or is there some use case that I am missing?
> >>> 
> >>> If I am not missing something, then switching the non-RCU APIs to
> >>> WRITE_ONCE() would be a step backwards, because it would make it harder
> >>> for tools like KCSAN to find bugs.
> >>> 
> >>> Thanx, Paul
> >>> 
> >>>> ---
> >>>> Changelog:
> >>>> V1 -> V2: 
> >>>> Add WRITE_ONCE in hlist_del_init to pair with READ_ONCE in
> >>>> hlist_unhashed_lockless.
> >>>> 
> >>>> include/linux/list.h          | 9 +++++----
> >>>> include/linux/list_nulls.h    | 2 +-
> >>>> include/linux/rculist_nulls.h | 2 +-
> >>>> 3 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
> >>>> 
> >>>> diff --git a/include/linux/list.h b/include/linux/list.h
> >>>> index ac366958ea..3a29b95bfe 100644
> >>>> --- a/include/linux/list.h
> >>>> +++ b/include/linux/list.h
> >>>> @@ -912,7 +912,7 @@ static inline void hlist_del(struct hlist_node *n)
> >>>> {
> >>>> __hlist_del(n);
> >>>> n->next = LIST_POISON1;
> >>>> - n->pprev = LIST_POISON2;
> >>>> + WRITE_ONCE(n->pprev, LIST_POISON2);
> >>>> }
> >>>> 
> >>>> /**
> >>>> @@ -925,7 +925,8 @@ static inline void hlist_del_init(struct hlist_node *n)
> >>>> {
> >>>> if (!hlist_unhashed(n)) {
> >>>> __hlist_del(n);
> >>>> - INIT_HLIST_NODE(n);
> >>>> + n->next = NULL;
> >>>> + WRITE_ONCE(n->pprev, NULL);
> >>>> }
> >>>> }
> >>>> 
> >>>> @@ -1026,8 +1027,8 @@ static inline void hlist_move_list(struct hlist_head *old,
> >>>> {
> >>>> new->first = old->first;
> >>>> if (new->first)
> >>>> - new->first->pprev = &new->first;
> >>>> - old->first = NULL;
> >>>> + WRITE_ONCE(new->first->pprev, &new->first);
> >>>> + WRITE_ONCE(old->first, NULL);
> >>>> }
> >>>> 
> >>>> #define hlist_entry(ptr, type, member) container_of(ptr,type,member)
> >>>> diff --git a/include/linux/list_nulls.h b/include/linux/list_nulls.h
> >>>> index fa6e8471bd..b63b0589fa 100644
> >>>> --- a/include/linux/list_nulls.h
> >>>> +++ b/include/linux/list_nulls.h
> >>>> @@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ static inline void hlist_nulls_add_head(struct hlist_nulls_node *n,
> >>>> 
> >>>> n->next = first;
> >>>> WRITE_ONCE(n->pprev, &h->first);
> >>>> - h->first = n;
> >>>> + WRITE_ONCE(h->first, n);
> >>>> if (!is_a_nulls(first))
> >>>> WRITE_ONCE(first->pprev, &n->next);
> >>>> }
> >>>> diff --git a/include/linux/rculist_nulls.h b/include/linux/rculist_nulls.h
> >>>> index ba4c00dd80..c65121655b 100644
> >>>> --- a/include/linux/rculist_nulls.h
> >>>> +++ b/include/linux/rculist_nulls.h
> >>>> @@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ static inline void hlist_nulls_add_tail_rcu(struct hlist_nulls_node *n,
> >>>> 
> >>>> if (last) {
> >>>> n->next = last->next;
> >>>> - n->pprev = &last->next;
> >>>> + WRITE_ONCE(n->pprev, &last->next);
> >>>> rcu_assign_pointer(hlist_nulls_next_rcu(last), n);
> >>>> } else {
> >>>> hlist_nulls_add_head_rcu(n, h);
> >>>> -- 
> >>>> 2.34.1
> 

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