5311a98fef
The current task on the runqueue is currently read with rcu_dereference(). To obtain ordinary RCU semantics for an rcu_dereference() of rq->curr it needs to be paired with rcu_assign_pointer() of rq->curr. Which provides the memory barrier necessary to order assignments to the task_struct and the assignment to rq->curr. Unfortunately the assignment of rq->curr in __schedule is a hot path, and it has already been show that additional barriers in that code will reduce the performance of the scheduler. So I will attempt to describe below why you can effectively have ordinary RCU semantics without any additional barriers. The assignment of rq->curr in init_idle is a slow path called once per cpu and that can use rcu_assign_pointer() without any concerns. As I write this there are effectively two users of rcu_dereference() on rq->curr. There is the membarrier code in kernel/sched/membarrier.c that only looks at "->mm" after the rcu_dereference(). Then there is task_numa_compare() in kernel/sched/fair.c. My best reading of the code shows that task_numa_compare only access: "->flags", "->cpus_ptr", "->numa_group", "->numa_faults[]", "->total_numa_faults", and "->se.cfs_rq". The code in __schedule() essentially does: rq_lock(...); smp_mb__after_spinlock(); next = pick_next_task(...); rq->curr = next; context_switch(prev, next); At the start of the function the rq_lock/smp_mb__after_spinlock pair provides a full memory barrier. Further there is a full memory barrier in context_switch(). This means that any task that has already run and modified itself (the common case) has already seen two memory barriers before __schedule() runs and begins executing. A task that modifies itself then sees a third full memory barrier pair with the rq_lock(); For a brand new task that is enqueued with wake_up_new_task() there are the memory barriers present from the taking and release the pi_lock and the rq_lock as the processes is enqueued as well as the full memory barrier at the start of __schedule() assuming __schedule() happens on the same cpu. This means that by the time we reach the assignment of rq->curr except for values on the task struct modified in pick_next_task the code has the same guarantees as if it used rcu_assign_pointer(). Reading through all of the implementations of pick_next_task it appears pick_next_task is limited to modifying the task_struct fields "->se", "->rt", "->dl". These fields are the sched_entity structures of the varies schedulers. Further "->se.cfs_rq" is only changed in cgroup attach/move operations initialized by userspace. Unless I have missed something this means that in practice that the users of "rcu_dereference(rq->curr)" get normal RCU semantics of rcu_dereference() for the fields the care about, despite the assignment of rq->curr in __schedule() ot using rcu_assign_pointer. Signed-off-by: Eric W. Biederman <ebiederm@xmission.com> Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org> Cc: Chris Metcalf <cmetcalf@ezchip.com> Cc: Christoph Lameter <cl@linux.com> Cc: Davidlohr Bueso <dave@stgolabs.net> Cc: Kirill Tkhai <tkhai@yandex.ru> Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> Cc: Mike Galbraith <efault@gmx.de> Cc: Oleg Nesterov <oleg@redhat.com> Cc: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org> Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> Cc: Russell King - ARM Linux admin <linux@armlinux.org.uk> Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20190903200603.GW2349@hirez.programming.kicks-ass.net Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org> |
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README
Linux kernel
============
There are several guides for kernel developers and users. These guides can
be rendered in a number of formats, like HTML and PDF. Please read
Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst first.
In order to build the documentation, use ``make htmldocs`` or
``make pdfdocs``. The formatted documentation can also be read online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/
There are various text files in the Documentation/ subdirectory,
several of them using the Restructured Text markup notation.
Please read the Documentation/process/changes.rst file, as it contains the
requirements for building and running the kernel, and information about
the problems which may result by upgrading your kernel.