Message-ID: <a89f8790-a043-4412-2508-d960b480d709@linux.intel.com>
Date:   Mon, 14 Aug 2023 12:21:33 +0200
From:   Thomas Hellström 
        <thomas.hellstrom@...ux.intel.com>
To:     Danilo Krummrich <dakr@...hat.com>
Cc:     Matthew Brost <matthew.brost@...el.com>,
        Francois Dugast <francois.dugast@...el.com>,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Oak Zeng <oak.zeng@...el.com>,
        dri-devel@...ts.freedesktop.org, Nirmoy Das <nirmoy.das@...el.com>,
        intel-xe@...ts.freedesktop.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v5] Documentation/gpu: Add a VM_BIND async draft document


On 7/19/23 16:24, Danilo Krummrich wrote:
> On 7/15/23 17:45, Thomas Hellström wrote:
>> Add a motivation for and description of asynchronous VM_BIND operation
>>
>> v2:
>> - Fix typos (Nirmoy Das)
>> - Improve the description of a memory fence (Oak Zeng)
>> - Add a reference to the document in the Xe RFC.
>> - Add pointers to sample uAPI suggestions
>> v3:
>> - Address review comments (Danilo Krummrich)
>> - Formatting fixes
>> v4:
>> - Address typos (Francois Dugast)
>> - Explain why in-fences are not allowed for VM_BIND operations for long-
>>    running workloads (Matthew Brost)
>> v5:
>> - More typo- and style fixing
>> - Further clarify the implications of disallowing in-fences for VM_BIND
>>    operations for long-running workloads (Matthew Brost)
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Thomas Hellström <thomas.hellstrom@...ux.intel.com>
>> Acked-by: Nirmoy Das <nirmoy.das@...el.com>
>> ---
>>   Documentation/gpu/drm-vm-bind-async.rst | 171 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>   Documentation/gpu/rfc/xe.rst            |   4 +-
>>   2 files changed, 173 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>>   create mode 100644 Documentation/gpu/drm-vm-bind-async.rst
>>
>> diff --git a/Documentation/gpu/drm-vm-bind-async.rst 
>> b/Documentation/gpu/drm-vm-bind-async.rst
>> new file mode 100644
>> index 000000000000..d2b02a38198a
>> --- /dev/null
>> +++ b/Documentation/gpu/drm-vm-bind-async.rst
>> @@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
>> +====================
>> +Asynchronous VM_BIND
>> +====================
>> +
>> +Nomenclature:
>> +=============
>> +
>> +* ``VRAM``: On-device memory. Sometimes referred to as device local 
>> memory.
>> +
>> +* ``gpu_vm``: A GPU address space. Typically per process, but can be 
>> shared by
>> +  multiple processes.
>
> Again, pretty obvious, but I suggest to be explicit "GPU virtual 
> address space".
>
> Also, you might want to remove "draft" from the patch subject.
>
> Otherwise: Reviewed-by: Danilo Krummrich <dakr@...hat.com>

Sure. Thanks for reviewing, Danilo.



>
>> +
>> +* ``VM_BIND``: An operation or a list of operations to modify a 
>> gpu_vm using
>> +  an IOCTL. The operations include mapping and unmapping system- or
>> +  VRAM memory.
>> +
>> +* ``syncobj``: A container that abstracts synchronization objects. The
>> +  synchronization objects can be either generic, like dma-fences or
>> +  driver specific. A syncobj typically indicates the type of the
>> +  underlying synchronization object.
>> +
>> +* ``in-syncobj``: Argument to a VM_BIND IOCTL, the VM_BIND operation 
>> waits
>> +  for these before starting.
>> +
>> +* ``out-syncobj``: Argument to a VM_BIND_IOCTL, the VM_BIND operation
>> +  signals these when the bind operation is complete.
>> +
>> +* ``memory fence``: A synchronization object, different from a 
>> dma-fence.
>> +  A memory fence uses the value of a specified memory location to 
>> determine
>> +  signaled status. A memory fence can be awaited and signaled by both
>> +  the GPU and CPU. Memory fences are sometimes referred to as
>> +  user-fences, userspace-fences or gpu futexes and do not 
>> necessarily obey
>> +  the dma-fence rule of signaling within a "reasonable amount of time".
>> +  The kernel should thus avoid waiting for memory fences with locks 
>> held.
>> +
>> +* ``long-running workload``: A workload that may take more than the
>> +  current stipulated dma-fence maximum signal delay to complete and
>> +  which therefore needs to set the gpu_vm or the GPU execution 
>> context in
>> +  a certain mode that disallows completion dma-fences.
>> +
>> +* ``exec function``: An exec function is a function that revalidates 
>> all
>> +  affected gpu_vmas, submits a GPU command batch and registers the
>> +  dma_fence representing the GPU command's activity with all affected
>> +  dma_resvs. For completeness, although not covered by this document,
>> +  it's worth mentioning that an exec function may also be the
>> +  revalidation worker that is used by some drivers in compute /
>> +  long-running mode.
>> +
>> +* ``bind context``: A context identifier used for the VM_BIND
>> +  operation. VM_BIND operations that use the same bind context can be
>> +  assumed, where it matters, to complete in order of submission. No 
>> such
>> +  assumptions can be made for VM_BIND operations using separate bind 
>> contexts.
>> +
>> +* ``UMD``: User-mode driver.
>> +
>> +* ``KMD``: Kernel-mode driver.
>> +
>> +
>> +Synchronous / Asynchronous VM_BIND operation
>> +============================================
>> +
>> +Synchronous VM_BIND
>> +___________________
>> +With Synchronous VM_BIND, the VM_BIND operations all complete before 
>> the
>> +IOCTL returns. A synchronous VM_BIND takes neither in-fences nor
>> +out-fences. Synchronous VM_BIND may block and wait for GPU operations;
>> +for example swap-in or clearing, or even previous binds.
>> +
>> +Asynchronous VM_BIND
>> +____________________
>> +Asynchronous VM_BIND accepts both in-syncobjs and out-syncobjs. 
>> While the
>> +IOCTL may return immediately, the VM_BIND operations wait for the 
>> in-syncobjs
>> +before modifying the GPU page-tables, and signal the out-syncobjs when
>> +the modification is done in the sense that the next exec function that
>> +awaits for the out-syncobjs will see the change. Errors are reported
>> +synchronously assuming that the asynchronous part of the job never 
>> errors.
>> +In low-memory situations the implementation may block, performing the
>> +VM_BIND synchronously, because there might not be enough memory
>> +immediately available for preparing the asynchronous operation.
>> +
>> +If the VM_BIND IOCTL takes a list or an array of operations as an 
>> argument,
>> +the in-syncobjs needs to signal before the first operation starts to
>> +execute, and the out-syncobjs signal after the last operation
>> +completes. Operations in the operation list can be assumed, where it
>> +matters, to complete in order.
>> +
>> +Since asynchronous VM_BIND operations may use dma-fences embedded in
>> +out-syncobjs and internally in KMD to signal bind completion, any
>> +memory fences given as VM_BIND in-fences need to be awaited
>> +synchronously before the VM_BIND ioctl returns, since dma-fences,
>
> IOCTL
>
>> +required to signal in a reasonable amount of time, can never be made
>> +to depend on memory fences that don't have such a restriction.
>> +
>> +To aid in supporting user-space queues, the VM_BIND may take a bind 
>> context.
>> +
>> +The purpose of an Asynchronous VM_BIND operation is for user-mode
>> +drivers to be able to pipeline interleaved gpu_vm modifications and
>> +exec functions. For long-running workloads, such pipelining of a bind
>> +operation is not allowed and any in-fences need to be awaited
>> +synchronously. The reason for this is twofold. First, any memory
>> +fences gated by a long-running workload and used as in-syncobjs for the
>> +VM_BIND operation will need to be awaited synchronously anyway (see
>> +above). Second, any dma-fences used as in-syncobjs for VM_BIND
>> +operations for long-running workloads will not allow for pipelining
>> +anyway since long-running workloads don't allow for dma-fences as
>> +out-syncobjs, so while theoretically possible the use of them is
>> +questionable and should be rejected until there is a valuable use-case.
>> +Note that this is not a limitation imposed by dma-fence rules, but
>> +rather a limitation imposed to keep KMD implementation simple. It does
>> +not affect using dma-fences as dependencies for the long-running
>> +workload itself, which is allowed by dma-fence rules, but rather for
>> +the VM_BIND operation only.
>> +
>> +Also for VM_BINDS for long-running gpu_vms the user-mode driver 
>> should typically
>> +select memory fences as out-fences since that gives greater 
>> flexibility for
>> +the kernel mode driver to inject other operations into the bind /
>> +unbind operations. Like for example inserting breakpoints into batch
>> +buffers. The workload execution can then easily be pipelined behind
>> +the bind completion using the memory out-fence as the signal condition
>> +for a GPU semaphore embedded by UMD in the workload.
>> +
>> +Multi-operation VM_BIND IOCTL error handling and interrupts
>> +===========================================================
>> +
>> +The VM_BIND operations of the IOCTL may error due to lack of resources
>> +to complete and also due to interrupted waits. In both situations UMD
>> +should preferably restart the IOCTL after taking suitable action. If
>> +UMD has over-committed a memory resource, an -ENOSPC error will be
>> +returned, and UMD may then unbind resources that are not used at the
>> +moment and restart the IOCTL. On -EINTR, UMD should simply restart the
>> +IOCTL and on -ENOMEM user-space may either attempt to free known
>> +system memory resources or abort the operation. If aborting as a
>> +result of a failed operation in a list of operations, some operations
>> +may still have completed, and to get back to a known state, user-space
>> +should therefore attempt to unbind all virtual memory regions touched
>> +by the failing IOCTL.
>> +Unbind operations are guaranteed not to cause any errors due to
>> +resource constraints.
>> +In between a failed VM_BIND IOCTL and a successful restart there may
>> +be implementation defined restrictions on the use of the gpu_vm. For a
>> +description why, please see KMD implementation details under `error
>> +state saving`_.
>> +
>> +Sample uAPI implementations
>> +===========================
>> +Suggested uAPI implementations at the moment of writing can be found 
>> for
>> +the Nouveau driver `here
>> +<https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/543260/?series=112994&rev=6>`_. 
>>
>> +and for the Xe driver `here
>> +<https://cgit.freedesktop.org/drm/drm-xe/diff/include/uapi/drm/xe_drm.h?h=drm-xe-next&id=9cb016ebbb6a275f57b1cb512b95d5a842391ad7>`_. 
>>
>> +
>> +KMD implementation details
>> +==========================
>> +
>> +Error state saving
>> +__________________
>> +Open: When the VM_BIND IOCTL returns an error, some or even parts of
>> +an operation may have been completed. If the IOCTL is restarted, in
>> +order to know where to restart, the KMD can either put the gpu_vm in
>> +an error state and save one instance of the needed restart state
>> +internally. In this case, KMD needs to block further modifications of
>> +the gpu_vm state that may cause additional failures requiring a
>> +restart state save, until the error has been fully resolved. If the
>> +uAPI instead defines a pointer to a UMD allocated cookie in the IOCTL
>> +struct, it could also choose to store the restart state in that cookie.
>> +
>> +The restart state may, for example, be the number of successfully
>> +completed operations.
>> +
>> +Easiest for UMD would of course be if KMD did a full unwind on error
>> +so that no error state needs to be saved.
>> diff --git a/Documentation/gpu/rfc/xe.rst b/Documentation/gpu/rfc/xe.rst
>> index 2516fe141db6..0f062e1346d2 100644
>> --- a/Documentation/gpu/rfc/xe.rst
>> +++ b/Documentation/gpu/rfc/xe.rst
>> @@ -138,8 +138,8 @@ memory fences. Ideally with helper support so 
>> people don't get it wrong in all
>>   possible ways.
>>     As a key measurable result, the benefits of ASYNC VM_BIND and a 
>> discussion of
>> -various flavors, error handling and a sample API should be 
>> documented here or in
>> -a separate document pointed to by this document.
>> +various flavors, error handling and sample API suggestions are 
>> documented in
>> +Documentation/gpu/drm-vm-bind-async.rst
>>     Userptr integration and vm_bind
>>   -------------------------------
>

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