netdev - Re: [PATCH] virtio-net: fix a race on 32bit arches

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Message-ID: <87ipezhdvx.fsf@rustcorp.com.au>
Date:	Sun, 10 Jun 2012 16:06:34 +0930
From:	Rusty Russell <rusty@...tcorp.com.au>
To:	Eric Dumazet <eric.dumazet@...il.com>,
	Jason Wang <jasowang@...hat.com>
Cc:	netdev@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	virtualization@...ts.linux-foundation.org, mst@...hat.com,
	Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@...tta.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] virtio-net: fix a race on 32bit arches

On Wed, 06 Jun 2012 10:45:41 +0200, Eric Dumazet <eric.dumazet@...il.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 2012-06-06 at 10:35 +0200, Eric Dumazet wrote:
> > From: Eric Dumazet <edumazet@...gle.com>
> > 
> > commit 3fa2a1df909 (virtio-net: per cpu 64 bit stats (v2)) added a race
> > on 32bit arches.
> > 
> > We must use separate syncp for rx and tx path as they can be run at the
> > same time on different cpus. Thus one sequence increment can be lost and
> > readers spin forever.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Eric Dumazet <edumazet@...gle.com>
> > Cc: Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@...tta.com>
> > Cc: Michael S. Tsirkin <mst@...hat.com>
> > Cc: Jason Wang <jasowang@...hat.com>
> > ---
> 
> Just to make clear : even using percpu stats/syncp, we have no guarantee
> that write_seqcount_begin() is done with one instruction. [1]
> 
> It is OK on x86 if "incl" instruction is generated by the compiler, but
> on a RISC cpu, the "load memory,%reg ; inc %reg ; store %reg,memory" can
> be interrupted.
> 
> So if you are 100% sure all paths are safe against preemption/BH, then
> this patch is not needed, but a big comment in the code would avoid
> adding possible races in the future.

Too fragile; let's keep them separate as per this patch.

Acked-by: Rusty Russell <rusty@...tcorp.com.au>

Thanks,
Rusty.
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