lkml.org 
[lkml]   [2014]   [Feb]   [23]   [last100]   RSS Feed
Views: [wrap][no wrap]   [headers]  [forward] 
 
Messages in this thread
Patch in this message
/
Date
From
SubjectRe: memory-barriers.txt again (was Re: [PATCH 4/9] firewire: don't use PREPARE_DELAYED_WORK)
On 02/23/2014 06:50 PM, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 23, 2014 at 03:35:31PM -0500, Peter Hurley wrote:
>> Hi Paul,
>>
>> On 02/23/2014 11:37 AM, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
>>> commit aba6b0e82c9de53eb032844f1932599f148ff68d
>>> Author: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
>>> Date: Sun Feb 23 08:34:24 2014 -0800
>>>
>>> Documentation/memory-barriers.txt: Clarify release/acquire ordering
>>>
>>> This commit fixes a couple of typos and clarifies what happens when
>>> the CPU chooses to execute a later lock acquisition before a prior
>>> lock release, in particular, why deadlock is avoided.
>>>
>>> Reported-by: Peter Hurley <peter@hurleysoftware.com>
>>> Reported-by: James Bottomley <James.Bottomley@HansenPartnership.com>
>>> Reported-by: Stefan Richter <stefanr@s5r6.in-berlin.de>
>>> Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
>>>
>>> diff --git a/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt b/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
>>> index 9dde54c55b24..c8932e06edf1 100644
>>> --- a/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
>>> +++ b/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
>>> @@ -1674,12 +1674,12 @@ for each construct. These operations all imply certain barriers:
>>> Memory operations issued after the ACQUIRE will be completed after the
>>> ACQUIRE operation has completed.
>>>
>>> - Memory operations issued before the ACQUIRE may be completed after the
>>> - ACQUIRE operation has completed. An smp_mb__before_spinlock(), combined
>>> - with a following ACQUIRE, orders prior loads against subsequent stores and
>>> - stores and prior stores against subsequent stores. Note that this is
>>> - weaker than smp_mb()! The smp_mb__before_spinlock() primitive is free on
>>> - many architectures.
>>> + Memory operations issued before the ACQUIRE may be completed after
>>> + the ACQUIRE operation has completed. An smp_mb__before_spinlock(),
>>> + combined with a following ACQUIRE, orders prior loads against
>>> + subsequent loads and stores and also orders prior stores against
>>> + subsequent stores. Note that this is weaker than smp_mb()! The
>>> + smp_mb__before_spinlock() primitive is free on many architectures.
>>>
>>> (2) RELEASE operation implication:
>>>
>>> @@ -1717,23 +1717,47 @@ the two accesses can themselves then cross:
>>>
>>> *A = a;
>>> ACQUIRE M
>>> - RELEASE M
>>> + RELEASE N
>>> *B = b;
>>>
>>> may occur as:
>>>
>>> - ACQUIRE M, STORE *B, STORE *A, RELEASE M
>>
>> This example should remain as is; it refers to the porosity of a critical
>> section to loads and stores occurring outside that critical section, and
>> importantly that LOCK + UNLOCK is not a full barrier. It documents that
>> memory operations from either side of the critical section may cross
>> (in the absence of other specific memory barriers). IOW, it is the example
>> to implication #1 above.
>
> Good point, I needed to apply the changes further down. How does the
> following updated patch look?
>
> Thanx, Paul
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> commit 528c2771288df7f98f9224a56b93bdb2db27ec70
> Author: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
> Date: Sun Feb 23 08:34:24 2014 -0800
>
> Documentation/memory-barriers.txt: Clarify release/acquire ordering
>
> This commit fixes a couple of typos and clarifies what happens when
> the CPU chooses to execute a later lock acquisition before a prior
> lock release, in particular, why deadlock is avoided.
>
> Reported-by: Peter Hurley <peter@hurleysoftware.com>
> Reported-by: James Bottomley <James.Bottomley@HansenPartnership.com>
> Reported-by: Stefan Richter <stefanr@s5r6.in-berlin.de>
> Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt b/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
> index 9dde54c55b24..9ea6de4eb252 100644
> --- a/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
> @@ -1674,12 +1674,12 @@ for each construct. These operations all imply certain barriers:
> Memory operations issued after the ACQUIRE will be completed after the
> ACQUIRE operation has completed.
>
> - Memory operations issued before the ACQUIRE may be completed after the
> - ACQUIRE operation has completed. An smp_mb__before_spinlock(), combined
> - with a following ACQUIRE, orders prior loads against subsequent stores and
> - stores and prior stores against subsequent stores. Note that this is
> - weaker than smp_mb()! The smp_mb__before_spinlock() primitive is free on
> - many architectures.
> + Memory operations issued before the ACQUIRE may be completed after
> + the ACQUIRE operation has completed. An smp_mb__before_spinlock(),
> + combined with a following ACQUIRE, orders prior loads against
> + subsequent loads and stores and also orders prior stores against
> + subsequent stores. Note that this is weaker than smp_mb()! The
> + smp_mb__before_spinlock() primitive is free on many architectures.
>
> (2) RELEASE operation implication:
>
> @@ -1724,24 +1724,20 @@ may occur as:
>
> ACQUIRE M, STORE *B, STORE *A, RELEASE M
>
> -This same reordering can of course occur if the lock's ACQUIRE and RELEASE are
> -to the same lock variable, but only from the perspective of another CPU not
> -holding that lock.
> -
> -In short, a RELEASE followed by an ACQUIRE may -not- be assumed to be a full
> -memory barrier because it is possible for a preceding RELEASE to pass a
> -later ACQUIRE from the viewpoint of the CPU, but not from the viewpoint
> -of the compiler. Note that deadlocks cannot be introduced by this
> -interchange because if such a deadlock threatened, the RELEASE would
> -simply complete.
> +When the ACQUIRE and RELEASE are a lock acquisition and release,
> +respectively, this same reordering can of course occur if the lock's
^^^^^^^
[delete?]

> +ACQUIRE and RELEASE are to the same lock variable, but only from the
> +perspective of another CPU not holding that lock.

In the above, are you introducing UNLOCK + LOCK not being a full barrier
or are you further elaborating the non-barrier that is LOCK + UNLOCK.

If you mean the first, might I suggest something like,

"Similarly, a RELEASE followed by an ACQUIRE may -not- be assumed to be a full
memory barrier."

as the introductory sentence.

> In short, a RELEASE
> +followed by an ACQUIRE may -not- be assumed to be a full memory barrier.


> If it is necessary for a RELEASE-ACQUIRE pair to produce a full barrier, the
> ACQUIRE can be followed by an smp_mb__after_unlock_lock() invocation. This
> will produce a full barrier if either (a) the RELEASE and the ACQUIRE are
> executed by the same CPU or task, or (b) the RELEASE and ACQUIRE act on the
> same variable. The smp_mb__after_unlock_lock() primitive is free on many
> -architectures. Without smp_mb__after_unlock_lock(), the critical sections
> -corresponding to the RELEASE and the ACQUIRE can cross:
> +architectures. Without smp_mb__after_unlock_lock(), the CPU's execution of
> +the critical sections corresponding to the RELEASE and the ACQUIRE can cross,
> +so that:
>
> *A = a;
> RELEASE M
> @@ -1752,7 +1748,36 @@ could occur as:
>
> ACQUIRE N, STORE *B, STORE *A, RELEASE M
>
> -With smp_mb__after_unlock_lock(), they cannot, so that:
> +It might appear that this rearrangement could introduce a deadlock.
> +However, this cannot happen because if such a deadlock threatened,
> +the RELEASE would simply complete, thereby avoiding the deadlock.
> +
> + Why does this work?
> +
> + One key point is that we are only talking about the CPU doing
> + the interchanging, not the compiler. If the compiler (or, for
^
reordering?
> + that matter, the developer) switched the operations, deadlock
> + -could- occur.
> +
> + But suppose the CPU interchanged the operations. In this case,
^
reordered?

> + the unlock precedes the lock in the assembly code. The CPU simply
> + elected to try executing the later lock operation first. If there
> + is a deadlock, this lock operation will simply spin (or try to
> + sleep, but more on that later). The CPU will eventually execute
> + the unlock operation (which again preceded the lock operation
^^
[delete?]
> + in the assembly code), which will unravel the potential deadlock,
> + allowing the lock operation to succeed.
> +
> + But what if the lock is a sleeplock? In that case, the code will
> + try to enter the scheduler, where it will eventually encounter
> + a memory barrier, which will force the earlier unlock operation
> + to complete, again unraveling the deadlock. There might be
> + a sleep-unlock race, but the locking primitive needs to resolve
> + such races properly in any case.
> +
> +With smp_mb__after_unlock_lock(), the two critical sections cannot overlap.
> +For example, with the following code, the store to *A will always be
> +seen by other CPUs before the store to *B:

> *A = a;
> RELEASE M
> @@ -1760,13 +1785,18 @@ With smp_mb__after_unlock_lock(), they cannot, so that:
> smp_mb__after_unlock_lock();
> *B = b;
>
> -will always occur as either of the following:
> +The operations will always occur in one of the following orders:
>
> - STORE *A, RELEASE, ACQUIRE, STORE *B
> - STORE *A, ACQUIRE, RELEASE, STORE *B
> + STORE *A, RELEASE, ACQUIRE, smp_mb__after_unlock_lock(), STORE *B
> + STORE *A, ACQUIRE, RELEASE, smp_mb__after_unlock_lock(), STORE *B
> + ACQUIRE, STORE *A, RELEASE, smp_mb__after_unlock_lock(), STORE *B
>
> -If the RELEASE and ACQUIRE were instead both operating on the same lock
> -variable, only the first of these two alternatives can occur.
> +If the RELEASE and ACQUIRE were instead both operating on the
> +same lock variable, only the first of these two alternatives can
> +occur. In addition, the more strongly ordered systems may rule out
> +some of the above orders. But in any case, as noted earlier, the
> +smp_mb__after_unlock_lock() ensures that the store to *A will always be
> +seen as happening before the store to *B.
>
> Locks and semaphores may not provide any guarantee of ordering on UP compiled
> systems, and so cannot be counted on in such a situation to actually achieve

Thanks for your work on these docs (and rcu and locks and multi-arch barriers
in general :) )

Regards,
Peter Hurley



\
 
 \ /
  Last update: 2014-02-24 01:41    [W:0.102 / U:0.044 seconds]
©2003-2020 Jasper Spaans|hosted at Digital Ocean and TransIP|Read the blog|Advertise on this site