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| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/futex-requeue-pi.txt | 131 |
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diff --git a/Documentation/futex-requeue-pi.txt b/Documentation/futex-requeue-pi.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..9dc1ff4fd53 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/futex-requeue-pi.txt @@ -0,0 +1,131 @@ +Futex Requeue PI +---------------- + +Requeueing of tasks from a non-PI futex to a PI futex requires +special handling in order to ensure the underlying rt_mutex is never +left without an owner if it has waiters; doing so would break the PI +boosting logic [see rt-mutex-desgin.txt] For the purposes of +brevity, this action will be referred to as "requeue_pi" throughout +this document. Priority inheritance is abbreviated throughout as +"PI". + +Motivation +---------- + +Without requeue_pi, the glibc implementation of +pthread_cond_broadcast() must resort to waking all the tasks waiting +on a pthread_condvar and letting them try to sort out which task +gets to run first in classic thundering-herd formation. An ideal +implementation would wake the highest-priority waiter, and leave the +rest to the natural wakeup inherent in unlocking the mutex +associated with the condvar. + +Consider the simplified glibc calls: + +/* caller must lock mutex */ +pthread_cond_wait(cond, mutex) +{ + lock(cond->__data.__lock); + unlock(mutex); + do { + unlock(cond->__data.__lock); + futex_wait(cond->__data.__futex); + lock(cond->__data.__lock); + } while(...) + unlock(cond->__data.__lock); + lock(mutex); +} + +pthread_cond_broadcast(cond) +{ + lock(cond->__data.__lock); + unlock(cond->__data.__lock); + futex_requeue(cond->data.__futex, cond->mutex); +} + +Once pthread_cond_broadcast() requeues the tasks, the cond->mutex +has waiters. Note that pthread_cond_wait() attempts to lock the +mutex only after it has returned to user space. This will leave the +underlying rt_mutex with waiters, and no owner, breaking the +previously mentioned PI-boosting algorithms. + +In order to support PI-aware pthread_condvar's, the kernel needs to +be able to requeue tasks to PI futexes. This support implies that +upon a successful futex_wait system call, the caller would return to +user space already holding the PI futex. The glibc implementation +would be modified as follows: + + +/* caller must lock mutex */ +pthread_cond_wait_pi(cond, mutex) +{ + lock(cond->__data.__lock); + unlock(mutex); + do { + unlock(cond->__data.__lock); + futex_wait_requeue_pi(cond->__data.__futex); + lock(cond->__data.__lock); + } while(...) + unlock(cond->__data.__lock); + /* the kernel acquired the the mutex for us */ +} + +pthread_cond_broadcast_pi(cond) +{ + lock(cond->__data.__lock); + unlock(cond->__data.__lock); + futex_requeue_pi(cond->data.__futex, cond->mutex); +} + +The actual glibc implementation will likely test for PI and make the +necessary changes inside the existing calls rather than creating new +calls for the PI cases. Similar changes are needed for +pthread_cond_timedwait() and pthread_cond_signal(). + +Implementation +-------------- + +In order to ensure the rt_mutex has an owner if it has waiters, it +is necessary for both the requeue code, as well as the waiting code, +to be able to acquire the rt_mutex before returning to user space. +The requeue code cannot simply wake the waiter and leave it to +acquire the rt_mutex as it would open a race window between the +requeue call returning to user space and the waiter waking and +starting to run. This is especially true in the uncontended case. + +The solution involves two new rt_mutex helper routines, +rt_mutex_start_proxy_lock() and rt_mutex_finish_proxy_lock(), which +allow the requeue code to acquire an uncontended rt_mutex on behalf +of the waiter and to enqueue the waiter on a contended rt_mutex. +Two new system calls provide the kernel<->user interface to +requeue_pi: FUTEX_WAIT_REQUEUE_PI and FUTEX_REQUEUE_CMP_PI. + +FUTEX_WAIT_REQUEUE_PI is called by the waiter (pthread_cond_wait() +and pthread_cond_timedwait()) to block on the initial futex and wait +to be requeued to a PI-aware futex. The implementation is the +result of a high-speed collision between futex_wait() and +futex_lock_pi(), with some extra logic to check for the additional +wake-up scenarios. + +FUTEX_REQUEUE_CMP_PI is called by the waker +(pthread_cond_broadcast() and pthread_cond_signal()) to requeue and +possibly wake the waiting tasks. Internally, this system call is +still handled by futex_requeue (by passing requeue_pi=1). Before +requeueing, futex_requeue() attempts to acquire the requeue target +PI futex on behalf of the top waiter. If it can, this waiter is +woken. futex_requeue() then proceeds to requeue the remaining +nr_wake+nr_requeue tasks to the PI futex, calling +rt_mutex_start_proxy_lock() prior to each requeue to prepare the +task as a waiter on the underlying rt_mutex. It is possible that +the lock can be acquired at this stage as well, if so, the next +waiter is woken to finish the acquisition of the lock. + +FUTEX_REQUEUE_PI accepts nr_wake and nr_requeue as arguments, but +their sum is all that really matters. futex_requeue() will wake or +requeue up to nr_wake + nr_requeue tasks. It will wake only as many +tasks as it can acquire the lock for, which in the majority of cases +should be 0 as good programming practice dictates that the caller of +either pthread_cond_broadcast() or pthread_cond_signal() acquire the +mutex prior to making the call. FUTEX_REQUEUE_PI requires that +nr_wake=1. nr_requeue should be INT_MAX for broadcast and 0 for +signal. |