Re: [PATCH] i386: fix vmalloc_sync_all() for Xen

[Jeremy Fitzhardinge]

Jan Beulich wrote:
> Since start is a static variable, it must be updated this way. The intention
> here is to shorten the loop in later runs - since kernel page table entries
> never go away, this is possible. Possibly just using the insync array would
> be sufficient, but when I first coded this I wanted to avoid as much
> overhead as was possible.
>   

Yes, I see.  How often does this get called?  alloc_vm_area() and 
register_notify_die().  alloc_vm_area is only called by the grant-table 
code, and register_notify_die() is boot-time init.  Is this worth 
optimising at all?


> > > > >  			spin_lock_irqsave(&pgd_lock, flags);
> > > > > +			if (unlikely(list_empty(&pgd_list))) {
> > > > > +				spin_unlock_irqrestore(&pgd_lock, flags);
> > > > > +				return;
> > > > > +			}
> > > > >   
> > > > >       
> > > > >           
> > > > This seems a bit warty.  If the list is empty, then won't the 
> > > > list_for_each_entry() just fall through?  Presumably this only applies 
> > > > to boot, since pgd_list won't be empty on a running system with usermode 
> > > > processes.  Is there a correctness issue here, or is it just a 
> > > > micro-optimisation?
> > > >     
> > > >         
> > > No, it isn't. Note the setting to NULL of page, which after the loop gets
> > > tested for. list_for_each_entry() would never yield a NULL page, even
> > > if the list is empty.
> > >       
> > Does that matter?  If pgd_list is empty, then it's in sync by 
> > definition.  Why does it need special-casing?
> >     
>
> Yes, certainly. But it would result in all insync bits set, which would be
> wrong - only non-empty page directory entries can be in sync.
>   

I think it would be better to separately test whether the vmalloc 
mapping is present in the init_mm and skip the syncing loop in that 
case, rather than this somewhat convoluted logic to overload the test in 
vmalloc_sync_one.

> > > > >  			list_for_each_entry(page, &pgd_list, lru) {
> > > > >  				if (!vmalloc_sync_one(page_address(page),
> > > > > -						      address))
> > > > > +						      address)) {
> > > > > +					BUG_ON(list_first_entry(&pgd_list,
> > > > > +								struct page,
> > > > > +								lru) != page);
> > > > >   
> > > > >       
> > > > >           
> > > > What condition is this testing for?
> > > >     
> > > >         
> > > This is a replacement of the BUG_ON() that an earlier patch from you
> > > removed: Failure of vmalloc_sync_one() must happen on the first
> > > entry or never, and this is what is being checked for here.
> > >   
> > >       
> > Could you add a comment?
> >     
>
> Sure, though there was none originally, and the intention seemed
> quite clear to me.

Well, looks to me like vmalloc_sync_one can only return NULL iff the 
vmalloc mapping is absent in init_mm, so that's going to be invariant 
with respect to any other pgd you pass in.  So I don't think the BUG_ON 
will ever fire, and it's unclear what actual logical property it's 
testing for.

I think all this can be cleaned up quite a bit, but this patch is an 
improvement over what's currently there.

Acked-by: Jeremy Fitzhardinge <jeremy.fitzhardinge@xxxxxxxxxx>

   J

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