[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]
Message-Id: <20240929111608.1016757-3-mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com>
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2024 07:16:08 -0400
From: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com>
To: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com>,
Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>,
Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@...utronix.de>,
"Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...nel.org>,
Will Deacon <will@...nel.org>,
Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@...il.com>,
Alan Stern <stern@...land.harvard.edu>,
John Stultz <jstultz@...gle.com>,
Neeraj Upadhyay <Neeraj.Upadhyay@....com>,
Frederic Weisbecker <frederic@...nel.org>,
Joel Fernandes <joel@...lfernandes.org>,
Josh Triplett <josh@...htriplett.org>,
Uladzislau Rezki <urezki@...il.com>,
Steven Rostedt <rostedt@...dmis.org>,
Lai Jiangshan <jiangshanlai@...il.com>,
Zqiang <qiang.zhang1211@...il.com>,
Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>,
Waiman Long <longman@...hat.com>,
Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@....com>,
Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>,
maged.michael@...il.com,
Mateusz Guzik <mjguzik@...il.com>,
Gary Guo <gary@...yguo.net>,
Jonas Oberhauser <jonas.oberhauser@...weicloud.com>,
rcu@...r.kernel.org,
linux-mm@...ck.org,
lkmm@...ts.linux.dev,
Nikita Popov <github@...pov.com>,
llvm@...ts.linux.dev
Subject: [PATCH v1 2/2] Documentation: RCU: Refer to ptr_eq()
Refer to ptr_eq() in the rcu_dereference() documentation.
ptr_eq() is a mechanism that preserves address dependencies when
comparing pointers, and should be favored when comparing a pointer
obtained from rcu_dereference() against another pointer.
Signed-off-by: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com>
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>
Cc: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@...utronix.de>
Cc: "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...nel.org>
Cc: Will Deacon <will@...nel.org>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>
Cc: Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@...il.com>
Cc: Alan Stern <stern@...land.harvard.edu>
Cc: John Stultz <jstultz@...gle.com>
Cc: Neeraj Upadhyay <Neeraj.Upadhyay@....com>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc: Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@...il.com>
Cc: Frederic Weisbecker <frederic@...nel.org>
Cc: Joel Fernandes <joel@...lfernandes.org>
Cc: Josh Triplett <josh@...htriplett.org>
Cc: Uladzislau Rezki <urezki@...il.com>
Cc: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@...dmis.org>
Cc: Lai Jiangshan <jiangshanlai@...il.com>
Cc: Zqiang <qiang.zhang1211@...il.com>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>
Cc: Waiman Long <longman@...hat.com>
Cc: Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@....com>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>
Cc: maged.michael@...il.com
Cc: Mateusz Guzik <mjguzik@...il.com>
Cc: Gary Guo <gary@...yguo.net>
Cc: Jonas Oberhauser <jonas.oberhauser@...weicloud.com>
Cc: rcu@...r.kernel.org
Cc: linux-mm@...ck.org
Cc: lkmm@...ts.linux.dev
Cc: Nikita Popov <github@...pov.com>
Cc: llvm@...ts.linux.dev
---
Changes since v0:
- Include feedback from Alan Stern.
---
Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.rst | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++-----
1 file changed, 27 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.rst b/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.rst
index 2524dcdadde2..9ef97b7ca74d 100644
--- a/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.rst
+++ b/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.rst
@@ -104,11 +104,12 @@ readers working properly:
after such branches, but can speculate loads, which can again
result in misordering bugs.
-- Be very careful about comparing pointers obtained from
- rcu_dereference() against non-NULL values. As Linus Torvalds
- explained, if the two pointers are equal, the compiler could
- substitute the pointer you are comparing against for the pointer
- obtained from rcu_dereference(). For example::
+- Use operations that preserve address dependencies (such as
+ "ptr_eq()") to compare pointers obtained from rcu_dereference()
+ against non-NULL pointers. As Linus Torvalds explained, if the
+ two pointers are equal, the compiler could substitute the
+ pointer you are comparing against for the pointer obtained from
+ rcu_dereference(). For example::
p = rcu_dereference(gp);
if (p == &default_struct)
@@ -125,6 +126,23 @@ readers working properly:
On ARM and Power hardware, the load from "default_struct.a"
can now be speculated, such that it might happen before the
rcu_dereference(). This could result in bugs due to misordering.
+ Performing the comparison with "ptr_eq()" ensures the compiler
+ does not perform such transformation.
+
+ If the comparison is against another pointer, the compiler is
+ allowed to use either pointer for the following accesses, which
+ loses the address dependency and allows weakly-ordered
+ architectures such as ARM and PowerPC to speculate the
+ address-dependent load before rcu_dereference(). For example::
+
+ p1 = READ_ONCE(gp);
+ p2 = rcu_dereference(gp);
+ if (p1 == p2)
+ do_default(p2->a);
+
+ The compiler can use p1->a rather than p2->a, destroying the
+ address dependency. Performing the comparison with "ptr_eq()"
+ ensures the compiler preserves the address dependencies.
However, comparisons are OK in the following cases:
@@ -204,6 +222,10 @@ readers working properly:
comparison will provide exactly the information that the
compiler needs to deduce the value of the pointer.
+ When in doubt, use operations that preserve address dependencies
+ (such as "ptr_eq()") to compare pointers obtained from
+ rcu_dereference() against non-NULL pointers.
+
- Disable any value-speculation optimizations that your compiler
might provide, especially if you are making use of feedback-based
optimizations that take data collected from prior runs. Such
--
2.39.2
Powered by blists - more mailing lists