Re: [PATCH, RFC] v7 scalable classic RCU implementation

From: Manfred Spraul
Date: Wed Oct 15 2008 - 04:12:23 EST


Paul E. McKenney wrote:
- For nohz cpus, a poller function [schedule_work(), enabled interrupts] peeks into the per-cpu data of the nohz cpu and checks if it is quiet or if it passed through a quiescent state.
If it didn't, then it sets a cpu_data->kick_poller flag and rcu_irq_exit() reports the grace period.
No need for an IPI either - rcu has a hook in the irq exit path.

I considered adding a cpu_quiet() on the irq exit path, but eventually
decided that I should instead place the added overhead in the infrequently
invoked force_quiescent_state() function. Could be argued either way,
of course.
rcu_irq_exit() is only called on idle cpus.
You are trading time spent by the idle cpu in 'hlt' with "real" cpu time.

Right now, I cheat if a nohz cpu is in a long-running nmi [while(other_cpu_is_in_nmi()) cpu_relax()], but I think I can fix that with an set_need_resched() in the rcu_nmi_exit().

Hmmm... I don't see where the NMI exit path checks the TIF_NEED_RESCHED
flag, but I could easily be missing something.
Good point.
I haven't looked at the issue yet.
Perhaps a smd_send_reschedule(smp_processor_id()) is necessary.

Btw, I found a bug in my state machine: Right now, the state machine will lock up if all cpus are in nohz mode.
I'm not sure if it applies to your code as well.

--
Manfred
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