Re: [patch] cpufreq: mark cpufreq_tsc() as core_initcall_sync

[Oleg Nesterov <oleg@tv-sign.ru>]

On 11/23, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
>
> On Thu, Nov 23, 2006 at 05:59:10PM +0300, Oleg Nesterov wrote:
> > (Sorry, responding to the wrong message)
> > 
> > Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> > >
> > > I am concerned about this as well, and am beginning to suspect that I
> > > need to make a special-purpose primitive specifically for Jens that he
> > > can include with his code.
> > 
> > How about this?
> 
> For Jens, it might be OK.  For general use, I believe that this has
> difficulties with the sequence of events I sent out on November 20th, see:
> 
> http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel&m=116397154808901&w=2

Oh. I guess I'd better sleep before answer, but I hope that this version
doesn't have those problems. Note the 'atomic_inc_not_zero()' in read_lock(),
it seems not possible for synchronize_xxx() to return while xxx_read_lock()
increments a "wrong" element.

Just in case, in no way this interface should replace the current srcu code,
this is another variant optimized for writers, with a hope it is ok for Jens.

> Might also be missing a few memory barriers, see below.
> 
> > 	struct xxx_struct {
> > 		int completed;
> > 		atomic_t ctr[2];
> > 		struct mutex mutex;
> > 		wait_queue_head_t wq;
> > 	};
> > 
> > 	void init_xxx_struct(struct xxx_struct *sp)
> > 	{
> > 		sp->completed = 0;
> > 		atomic_set(sp->ctr + 0, 1);	// active
> > 		atomic_set(sp->ctr + 1, 0);	// inactive
> > 		mutex_init(&sp->mutex);
> > 		init_waitqueue_head(&sp->wq);
> > 	}
> > 
> > 	int xxx_read_lock(struct xxx_struct *sp)
> > 	{
> > 		for (;;) {
> > 			int idx = sp->completed & 0x1;
> > 			if (likely(atomic_inc_not_zero(sp->ctr + idx)))
> 
> Need an after-atomic-inc memory barrier here?

>From Documentation/atomic_ops.txt:

   "atomic_add_unless requires explicit memory barriers around the operation."

> 
> > 				return idx;
> > 		}
> > 	}
> > 
> > 	void xxx_read_unlock(struct xxx_struct *sp, int idx)
> > 	{
> 
> Need a before-atomic-dec memory barrier here?

The same, Documentation/atomic_ops.txt states

	"It requires explicit memory barrier semantics"

> > 		if (unlikely(atomic_dec_and_test(sp->ctr + idx)))
> > 			wake_up(&sp->wq);
> > 	}
> > 
> > 	void synchronize_xxx(struct xxx_struct *sp)
> > 	{
> > 		int idx;
> > 
> > 		mutex_lock(&sp->mutex);
> > 
> > 		idx = ++sp->completed & 0x1;
> > 		smp_mb__before_atomic_inc();
> > 		atomic_inc(&sp->ctr + idx);
> > 
> > 		idx = !idx;
> > 		if (!atomic_dec_and_test(&sp->ctr + idx))
> > 			__wait_event(&sp->wq, !atomic_read(&sp->ctr + idx));
> 
> I don't understand why an unlucky sequence of events mightn't be able
> to hang this __wait_event().  Suppose we did the atomic_dec_and_test(),

... so atomic_read() >= 0 ...

> then some other CPU executed xxx_read_unlock(), finding no one to awaken,

... it does atomic_dec(), but sp->wq is empty, yes?

> then we execute the __wait_event()?

__wait_event() will notice !atomic_read() and return.

Note that this is just an optimization. We can do

	atomic_dec(sp->ctr + idx);
	__wait_event(&sp->wq, !atomic_read(sp->ctr + idx));

instead. Also, I think synchronize_xxx() could be optimized further.

>                                      What am I missing here?

Probably it is me again who missed something... Please say no!

> > 
> > 		mutex_unlock(&sp->mutex);
> > 	}
> > 
> > Yes, cache thrashing... But I think this is hard to avoid if we want writer
> > to be fast.
> > 
> > I do not claim this is the best solution, but for some reason I'd like to
> > suggest something that doesn't need synchronize_sched(). What do you think
> > about correctness at least?
> 
> The general approach seems reasonable, but I do have the concerns above.

Thanks!

Oleg.

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