Re: [PATCH v11 09/16] qspinlock, x86: Allow unfair spinlock in a virtual guest
From: Waiman Long
Date: Thu Jun 12 2014 - 17:08:41 EST
On 06/12/2014 01:50 AM, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
On Wed, Jun 11, 2014 at 09:37:55PM -0400, Long, Wai Man wrote:
On 6/11/2014 6:54 AM, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
On Fri, May 30, 2014 at 11:43:55AM -0400, Waiman Long wrote:
Enabling this configuration feature causes a slight decrease the
performance of an uncontended lock-unlock operation by about 1-2%
mainly due to the use of a static key. However, uncontended lock-unlock
operation are really just a tiny percentage of a real workload. So
there should no noticeable change in application performance.
No, entirely unacceptable.
+#ifdef CONFIG_VIRT_UNFAIR_LOCKS
+/**
+ * queue_spin_trylock_unfair - try to acquire the queue spinlock unfairly
+ * @lock : Pointer to queue spinlock structure
+ * Return: 1 if lock acquired, 0 if failed
+ */
+static __always_inline int queue_spin_trylock_unfair(struct qspinlock *lock)
+{
+ union arch_qspinlock *qlock = (union arch_qspinlock *)lock;
+
+ if (!qlock->locked&& (cmpxchg(&qlock->locked, 0, _Q_LOCKED_VAL) == 0))
+ return 1;
+ return 0;
+}
+
+/**
+ * queue_spin_lock_unfair - acquire a queue spinlock unfairly
+ * @lock: Pointer to queue spinlock structure
+ */
+static __always_inline void queue_spin_lock_unfair(struct qspinlock *lock)
+{
+ union arch_qspinlock *qlock = (union arch_qspinlock *)lock;
+
+ if (likely(cmpxchg(&qlock->locked, 0, _Q_LOCKED_VAL) == 0))
+ return;
+ /*
+ * Since the lock is now unfair, we should not activate the 2-task
+ * pending bit spinning code path which disallows lock stealing.
+ */
+ queue_spin_lock_slowpath(lock, -1);
+}
Why is this needed?
I added the unfair version of lock and trylock as my original version isn't
a simple test-and-set lock. Now I changed the core part to use the simple
test-and-set lock. However, I still think that an unfair version in the fast
path can be helpful to performance when both the unfair lock and paravirt
spinlock are enabled. In this case, paravirt spinlock code will disable the
unfair lock code in the slowpath, but still allow the unfair version in the
fast path to get the best possible performance in a virtual guest.
Yes, I could take that out to allow either unfair or paravirt spinlock, but
not both. I do think that a little bit of unfairness will help in the
virtual environment.
When will you learn to like simplicity and stop this massive over
engineering effort?
There's no sane reason to have the test-and-set virt and paravirt locks
enabled at the same bloody time.
There's 3 distinct cases:
- native
- virt
- paravirt
And they do not overlap. Furthermore, if there is any possibility at all
of not polluting the native code, grab it with both hands.
Native performance is king, try your very utmost bestest to preserve
that, paravirt is a distant second and nobody sane should care about the
virt case at all.
The patch won't affect native performance unless the kernel is built
with VIRT_UNFAIR_LOCKS selected. The same is also true when
PARAVIRT_SPINLOCKS is selected. There is no way around that.
I do agree that I may over-engineer on this patch, but my main purpose
is to achieve the best possible performance and so may sacrifice
simplicity in some cases. Still allowing lock stealing in the fastpath
is already much simpler than what my original patch was doing with lock
stealing in the slowpath. If you still think it is too complex, I am
willing to take that out if it is what I need to get your approval.
Please also review the rests of the pvspinlock patches and let me know
if you have other comments. I would like to have one more version to go
and be done with it.
Thanks,
Longman
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