Re: [RFC][PATCH 6/8] PM / Sleep: Implement opportunistic sleep

From: NeilBrown
Date: Thu Apr 26 2012 - 20:40:13 EST


On Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:52:42 +0200 "Rafael J. Wysocki" <rjw@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> On Thursday, April 26, 2012, NeilBrown wrote:
> > On Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:23:23 +0200 "Rafael J. Wysocki" <rjw@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > > From: "Rafael J. Wysocki" <rjw@xxxxxxx>
> > > To: Linux PM list <linux-pm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > > Cc: LKML <linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Magnus Damm <magnus.damm@xxxxxxxxx>, markgross@xxxxxxxxxxx, Matthew Garrett <mjg@xxxxxxxxxx>, Greg KH <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Arve HjÃnnevÃg <arve@xxxxxxxxxxx>, John Stultz <john.stultz@xxxxxxxxxx>, Brian Swetland <swetland@xxxxxxxxxx>, Neil Brown <neilb@xxxxxxx>, Alan Stern <stern@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Dmitry Torokhov <dmitry.torokhov@xxxxxxxxx>, "Srivatsa S. Bhat" <srivatsa.bhat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > > Subject: [RFC][PATCH 6/8] PM / Sleep: Implement opportunistic sleep
> > > Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:23:23 +0200
> > > Sender: linux-kernel-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > User-Agent: KMail/1.13.6 (Linux/3.4.0-rc3+; KDE/4.6.0; x86_64; ; )
> > >
> > > From: Rafael J. Wysocki <rjw@xxxxxxx>
> > >
> > > Introduce a mechanism by which the kernel can trigger global
> > > transitions to a sleep state chosen by user space if there are no
> > > active wakeup sources.
> >
> > Hi Rafael,
>
> Hi,
>
> > just a few little issues below. Over all I think that if we have to have
> > auto-sleep in the kernel, then this is a good way to do it.
>
> Good, we seem to agree in principle, then. :-)
>
> > > +static void try_to_suspend(struct work_struct *work)
> > > +{
> > > + unsigned int initial_count, final_count;
> > > +
> > > + if (!pm_get_wakeup_count(&initial_count, true))
> > > + goto out;
> > > +
> > > + mutex_lock(&autosleep_lock);
> > > +
> > > + if (!pm_save_wakeup_count(initial_count)) {
> > > + mutex_unlock(&autosleep_lock);
> > > + goto out;
> > > + }
> > > +
> > > + if (autosleep_state == PM_SUSPEND_ON) {
> > > + mutex_unlock(&autosleep_lock);
> > > + return;
> > > + }
> > > + if (autosleep_state >= PM_SUSPEND_MAX)
> > > + hibernate();
> > > + else
> > > + pm_suspend(autosleep_state);
> > > +
> > > + mutex_unlock(&autosleep_lock);
> > > +
> > > + if (!pm_get_wakeup_count(&final_count, false))
> > > + goto out;
> > > +
> > > + if (final_count == initial_count)
> > > + schedule_timeout(HZ / 2);
> >
> > This doesn't do what you seem to expect it to do.
> > You need to set current->state to something like TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE
> > before calling schedule_timeout, otherwise it is effectily a no-op.
> > schedule_timeout_uninterruptible(), for example, will do this for you.
>
> Right. I obviously overlooked the missing state change.
>
> > However the value of this isn't clear to me, so a comment would probably be a
> > good thing.
> > This continue presumably fires if we wake up without any wakeup sources
> > being activated. In that case you want to delay for 500ms - presumably to
> > avoid a tight suspend/resume loop if something goes wrong?
>
> Yes.
>
> > I have occasionally seen a stray/uninteresting interrupt wake from suspend
> > immediately after entering suspend and the next attempt succeeds. Maybe this
> > is a bug in some driver somewhere, but not a big one. I think I would rather
> > in that case that we attempt to re-enter suspend immediately. Maybe after a
> > few failed attempts it makes sense to back off.
>
> Perhaps. We can adjust this particular thing later, I think.
>
> > The other question is: if we want to back-off, is 500ms really enough? What
> > will be gained by, or could be achieved in, that time? An exponential
> > back-off might be defensible, but I can't see the value of a 500ms fixed
> > back-off.
> > However if you can, I'd love to see a comment in there explaining it.
>
> Sure.
>
> > > +
> > > + out:
> > > + queue_up_suspend_work();
> > > +}
> > > +
> >
> >
> > > +
> > > +int pm_autosleep_set_state(suspend_state_t state)
> > > +{
> > > +
> > > +#ifndef CONFIG_HIBERNATION
> > > + if (state >= PM_SUSPEND_MAX)
> > > + return -EINVAL;
> > > +#endif
> > > +
> > > + __pm_stay_awake(autosleep_ws);
> > > +
> > > + mutex_lock(&autosleep_lock);
> > > +
> > > + autosleep_state = state;
> > > +
> > > + __pm_relax(autosleep_ws);
> >
> > I'm struggling to see the point of the autosleep_ws.
> >
> > A suspend cannot actually happen while this code is running (can it?) because
> > it will wait for the process to enter the freezer.
> > So the only effect of this is:
> > 1/ cause the current auto-sleep cycle to abort and
> > 2/ maybe add some accounting number is the autosleep_ws.
> > Is that right?
> > Which of these is needed?
>
> This is to solve a problem when user space attempts to echo "off" to
> /sys/power/autosleep exactly when pm_suspend() is initiated as a part
> of autosleep under the autosleep lock. In that case, if autosleep_ws is not
> there, the process wanting to disable autosleep will have to wait for the
> pm_suspend() to complete (unless it holds a wakelock), which is suboptimal.
>
> > I would imagine that any process writing to /sys/power/autosleep would be
> > holding a wakelock, and if it didn't it should expect things to be racy...
> >
> > Am I missing something?
>
> The assumption above is kind of optimistic in my opinion. That process
> very well may be a system administrator's bash, for example. :-)

If it is, then presumably the auto-sleep could kick in between any pair of
keystrokes that the sysadmin types. Or between the final 'enter' and when the
write() system call begins. All that autosleep_ws seems to provide is
certainty that when the write() system call completes, autosleep will be
fully disabled.
I don't think that is really worth anything.

However, something did occur to me that I would like clarified.
What happens if try_to_suspend() gets the autosleep_lock just before
wakeup_count_store(), state_store() or pm_autosleep_set_state()
try to get it?
For pm_autosleep_set_state() the try_to_suspend() attempt will abort because
it is holding autosleep_ws, so it will drop the lock and
pm_autosleep_set_state() will continue happily.
For the other two, what will happen (if there are no active wakesources and
autosleep is enabled).
I'm guessing that try_to_suspend will try to freeze all the process, which
sends a pseudo signal to all processes, so the mutex_lock_interruptible will
fail and the suspend will complete.
Then will the aborted write() system call be re-attempted?

If that is right, then here is a very clear need to autosleep_ws: it prevents
a deadlock.
So it appears there is a very real need for autosleep_ws that even I can
agree with. It seems subtle though and could usefully be documented:

/* Note: it is only safe to mutex_lock(&autosleep_lock) if a wakeup_source
* is active, otherwise a deadlock with try_to_suspend() is possible.
* Alternatively mutex_lock_interruptible() can be used. This will then fail
* if an auto_sleep cycle tries to freeze processes.
*/
static DEFINE_MUTEX(autosleep_lock);

So:
Reviewed-by: NeilBrown <neilb@xxxxxxx>

Thanks,
NeilBrown

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