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authorLai Jiangshan <laijs@cn.fujitsu.com>2012-02-27 09:28:10 -0800
committerPaul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>2012-04-30 10:48:22 -0700
commit18108ebfebe9e871d0a9af830baf8f5df69eb5fc (patch)
tree363127aced66530e6c6808a55462e10c3e8fedb8 /kernel/srcu.c
parent944ce9af4767ca085d465e4add69df11a8faa9ef (diff)
downloadlwn-18108ebfebe9e871d0a9af830baf8f5df69eb5fc.tar.gz
lwn-18108ebfebe9e871d0a9af830baf8f5df69eb5fc.zip
rcu: Improve SRCU's wait_idx() comments
The safety of SRCU is provided byy wait_idx() rather than flipping. The flipping actually prevents starvation. This commit therefore updates the comments to more accurately and precisely describe what is going on. Signed-off-by: Lai Jiangshan <laijs@cn.fujitsu.com> Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'kernel/srcu.c')
-rw-r--r--kernel/srcu.c77
1 files changed, 37 insertions, 40 deletions
diff --git a/kernel/srcu.c b/kernel/srcu.c
index b6b9ea2eb51c..1fecb4d858ed 100644
--- a/kernel/srcu.c
+++ b/kernel/srcu.c
@@ -249,6 +249,10 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(__srcu_read_unlock);
*/
#define SYNCHRONIZE_SRCU_READER_DELAY 5
+/*
+ * Wait until all pre-existing readers complete. Such readers
+ * will have used the index specified by "idx".
+ */
static void wait_idx(struct srcu_struct *sp, int idx, bool expedited)
{
int trycount = 0;
@@ -291,24 +295,9 @@ static void wait_idx(struct srcu_struct *sp, int idx, bool expedited)
smp_mb(); /* E */
}
-/*
- * Flip the readers' index by incrementing ->completed, then wait
- * until there are no more readers using the counters referenced by
- * the old index value. (Recall that the index is the bottom bit
- * of ->completed.)
- *
- * Of course, it is possible that a reader might be delayed for the
- * full duration of flip_idx_and_wait() between fetching the
- * index and incrementing its counter. This possibility is handled
- * by the next __synchronize_srcu() invoking wait_idx() for such readers
- * before starting a new grace period.
- */
-static void flip_idx_and_wait(struct srcu_struct *sp, bool expedited)
+static void srcu_flip(struct srcu_struct *sp)
{
- int idx;
-
- idx = sp->completed++ & 0x1;
- wait_idx(sp, idx, expedited);
+ sp->completed++;
}
/*
@@ -316,6 +305,8 @@ static void flip_idx_and_wait(struct srcu_struct *sp, bool expedited)
*/
static void __synchronize_srcu(struct srcu_struct *sp, bool expedited)
{
+ int busy_idx;
+
rcu_lockdep_assert(!lock_is_held(&sp->dep_map) &&
!lock_is_held(&rcu_bh_lock_map) &&
!lock_is_held(&rcu_lock_map) &&
@@ -323,8 +314,28 @@ static void __synchronize_srcu(struct srcu_struct *sp, bool expedited)
"Illegal synchronize_srcu() in same-type SRCU (or RCU) read-side critical section");
mutex_lock(&sp->mutex);
+ busy_idx = sp->completed & 0X1UL;
/*
+ * If we recently flipped the index, there will be some readers
+ * using idx=0 and others using idx=1. Therefore, two calls to
+ * wait_idx()s suffice to ensure that all pre-existing readers
+ * have completed:
+ *
+ * __synchronize_srcu() {
+ * wait_idx(sp, 0, expedited);
+ * wait_idx(sp, 1, expedited);
+ * }
+ *
+ * Starvation is prevented by the fact that we flip the index.
+ * While we wait on one index to clear out, almost all new readers
+ * will be using the other index. The number of new readers using the
+ * index we are waiting on is sharply bounded by roughly the number
+ * of CPUs.
+ *
+ * How can new readers possibly using the old pre-flip value of
+ * the index? Consider the following sequence of events:
+ *
* Suppose that during the previous grace period, a reader
* picked up the old value of the index, but did not increment
* its counter until after the previous instance of
@@ -333,31 +344,17 @@ static void __synchronize_srcu(struct srcu_struct *sp, bool expedited)
* not start until after the grace period started, so the grace
* period was not obligated to wait for that reader.
*
- * However, the current SRCU grace period does have to wait for
- * that reader. This is handled by invoking wait_idx() on the
- * non-active set of counters (hence sp->completed - 1). Once
- * wait_idx() returns, we know that all readers that picked up
- * the old value of ->completed and that already incremented their
- * counter will have completed.
- *
- * But what about readers that picked up the old value of
- * ->completed, but -still- have not managed to increment their
- * counter? We do not need to wait for those readers, because
- * they will have started their SRCU read-side critical section
- * after the current grace period starts.
- *
- * Because it is unlikely that readers will be preempted between
- * fetching ->completed and incrementing their counter, wait_idx()
- * will normally not need to wait.
+ * However, this sequence of events is quite improbable, so
+ * this call to wait_idx(), which waits on really old readers
+ * describe in this comment above, will almost never need to wait.
*/
- wait_idx(sp, (sp->completed - 1) & 0x1, expedited);
+ wait_idx(sp, 1 - busy_idx, expedited);
- /*
- * Now that wait_idx() has waited for the really old readers,
- * invoke flip_idx_and_wait() to flip the counter and wait
- * for current SRCU readers.
- */
- flip_idx_and_wait(sp, expedited);
+ /* Flip the index to avoid reader-induced starvation. */
+ srcu_flip(sp);
+
+ /* Wait for recent pre-existing readers. */
+ wait_idx(sp, busy_idx, expedited);
mutex_unlock(&sp->mutex);
}