Re: [PATCH 2/2] [PATCH] sched: Add smp_rmb() in task rq locking cycles

[Chris Metcalf]

On 04/28/2015 01:43 PM, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 28, 2015 at 12:58:55PM -0400, Chris Metcalf wrote:
> > On 04/28/2015 12:40 PM, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> > > On Tue, Apr 28, 2015 at 11:53:21AM -0400, Chris Metcalf wrote:
> > >
> > > > The reason we use two 32-bit fields on tilepro is that the only available
> > > > atomic instruction is tns (test and set), which sets a 32-bit "1" value
> > > > into the target memory and returns the old 32-bit value.
> > > And you want a ticket lock as opposed to the test-and-set lock because
> > > with 64 tiles starvation under contention is a real worry?
> > We see substantial unfairness under load with a plain spinlock,
> > basically because nearer cores on the mesh network can exponentially
> > crowd out further cores.  The ticket lock avoids that, though we
> > have to be careful to do backoff when checking the lock to avoid
> > DDoS in the mesh network.
> Does your arch have 16bit atomic load/stores ? If so, would something
> like the below not make sense?

Yes, tilepro can do 16-bit atomic load/stores.  The reason we didn't use
your approach (basically having tns provide locking for the head/tail)
is just a perceived efficiency gain from rolling the tns lock into the head.

The current tilepro arch_spin_lock() is just three mesh network transactions
(tns, store, load).  Your proposed spin lock is five (tns, load, store, 
store, load).
Or, looking it from a core-centric perspective, the current arch_spin_lock()
only has to wait on requests from the mesh network twice (tns, load), 
basically
once for each member of the lock structure; your proposed version is three
(tns, load, load).

I don't honestly know how critical this difference is, but that's why I
designed it the way I did.

I think your goal with your proposed redesign is being able to atomically
read head and tail together for arch_spin_unlock_wait(), but I don't see
why that's better than just reading head, checking it's not equal to tail
with a separate read, then spinning waiting for head to change.

> typedef struct {
> 	union {
> 		struct {
> 			unsigned short head;
> 			unsigned short tail;
> 		};
> 		unsigned int tickets;
> 	};
> 	unsigned int lock;
> } arch_spinlock_t;
>
> static inline void ___tns_lock(unsigned int *lock)
> {
> 	while (tns(lock))
> 		cpu_relax();
> }
>
> static inline void ___tns_unlock(unsigned int *lock)
> {
> 	WRITE_ONCE(*lock, 0);
> }
>
> static inline void arch_spin_lock(arch_spinlock_t *lock)
> {
> 	unsigned short head, tail;
>
> 	___tns_lock(&lock->lock); /* XXX does the TNS imply a ___sync?  */
> 	head = lock->head;
> 	lock->head++;
> 	___tns_unlock(&lock->lock);
>
> 	while (READ_ONCE(lock->tail) != head)
> 		cpu_relax();
> }
>
> static inline void arch_spin_unlock(arch_spinlock_t *lock)
> {
> 	/*
> 	 * can do with regular load/store because the lock owner
> 	 * is the only one going to do stores to the tail
> 	 */
> 	unsigned short tail = READ_ONCE(lock->tail);
> 	smp_mb(); /* MB is stronger than RELEASE */
> 	WRITE_ONCE(lock->tail, tail + 1);
> }
>
> static inline void arch_spin_unlock_wait(arch_spinlock_t *lock)
> {
> 	union {
> 		struct {
> 			unsigned short head;
> 			unsigned short tail;
> 		};
> 		unsigned int tickets;
> 	} x;
>
> 	for (;;) {
> 		x.tickets = READ_ONCE(lock->tickets);
> 		if (x.head == x.tail)
> 			break;
> 		cpu_relax();
> 	}
> }

--
Chris Metcalf, EZChip Semiconductor
http://www.ezchip.com

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