[PATCH v2] membarrier: Document scheduler barrier requirements

From: Mathieu Desnoyers
Date: Tue Sep 19 2017 - 15:56:54 EST


Document the membarrier requirement on having a full memory barrier in
__schedule() after coming from user-space, before storing to rq->curr.
It is provided by smp_mb__before_spinlock() in __schedule().

Document that membarrier requires a full barrier on transition from
kernel thread to userspace thread. We currently have an implicit barrier
from atomic_dec_and_test() in mmdrop() that ensures this.

The x86 switch_mm_irqs_off() full barrier is currently provided by many
cpumask update operations as well as write_cr3(). Document that
write_cr3() provides this barrier.

Changes since v1:
- Update comments to match reality for code paths which are after
storing to rq->curr, before returning to user-space.

Signed-off-by: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
CC: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
CC: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
CC: Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@xxxxxxxxx>
CC: Andrew Hunter <ahh@xxxxxxxxxx>
CC: Maged Michael <maged.michael@xxxxxxxxx>
CC: gromer@xxxxxxxxxx
CC: Avi Kivity <avi@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
CC: Benjamin Herrenschmidt <benh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
CC: Paul Mackerras <paulus@xxxxxxxxx>
CC: Michael Ellerman <mpe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
CC: Dave Watson <davejwatson@xxxxxx>
---
arch/x86/mm/tlb.c | 5 +++++
include/linux/sched/mm.h | 5 +++++
kernel/sched/core.c | 9 +++++++++
3 files changed, 19 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/x86/mm/tlb.c b/arch/x86/mm/tlb.c
index 1ab3821f9e26..74f94fe4aded 100644
--- a/arch/x86/mm/tlb.c
+++ b/arch/x86/mm/tlb.c
@@ -144,6 +144,11 @@ void switch_mm_irqs_off(struct mm_struct *prev, struct mm_struct *next,
}
#endif

+ /*
+ * The membarrier system call requires a full memory barrier
+ * before returning to user-space, after storing to rq->curr.
+ * Writing to CR3 provides that full memory barrier.
+ */
if (real_prev == next) {
VM_BUG_ON(this_cpu_read(cpu_tlbstate.ctxs[prev_asid].ctx_id) !=
next->context.ctx_id);
diff --git a/include/linux/sched/mm.h b/include/linux/sched/mm.h
index 3a19c253bdb1..766cc47c4d7c 100644
--- a/include/linux/sched/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/sched/mm.h
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ static inline void mmgrab(struct mm_struct *mm)
extern void __mmdrop(struct mm_struct *);
static inline void mmdrop(struct mm_struct *mm)
{
+ /*
+ * The implicit full barrier implied by atomic_dec_and_test is
+ * required by the membarrier system call before returning to
+ * user-space, after storing to rq->curr.
+ */
if (unlikely(atomic_dec_and_test(&mm->mm_count)))
__mmdrop(mm);
}
diff --git a/kernel/sched/core.c b/kernel/sched/core.c
index 18a6966567da..7977b25acf54 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/core.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/core.c
@@ -2658,6 +2658,12 @@ static struct rq *finish_task_switch(struct task_struct *prev)
finish_arch_post_lock_switch();

fire_sched_in_preempt_notifiers(current);
+ /*
+ * When transitioning from a kernel thread to a userspace
+ * thread, mmdrop()'s implicit full barrier is required by the
+ * membarrier system call, because the current active_mm can
+ * become the current mm without going through switch_mm().
+ */
if (mm)
mmdrop(mm);
if (unlikely(prev_state == TASK_DEAD)) {
@@ -3299,6 +3305,9 @@ static void __sched notrace __schedule(bool preempt)
* Make sure that signal_pending_state()->signal_pending() below
* can't be reordered with __set_current_state(TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE)
* done by the caller to avoid the race with signal_wake_up().
+ *
+ * The membarrier system call requires a full memory barrier
+ * after coming from user-space, before storing to rq->curr.
*/
rq_lock(rq, &rf);
smp_mb__after_spinlock();
--
2.11.0