Re: [RFC] llist: Fix code comments about llist_del_first locking
From: Huang\, Ying
Date: Thu Dec 08 2016 - 21:12:46 EST
Joel Fernandes <joelaf@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 4:42 PM, Joel Fernandes <joelaf@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 4:35 PM, Huang, Ying <ying.huang@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> Joel Fernandes <joelaf@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>>>
>>>> Usage llist_del_first needs lock protection, however the table in the
>>>> comments of llist.h show a '-'. Correct this, and also add better
>>>> comments on top.
>>>>
>>>> Cc: Huang Ying <ying.huang@xxxxxxxxx>
>>>> Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>>> Cc: Will Deacon <will.deacon@xxxxxxx>
>>>> Cc: Paul McKenney <paulmck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>> Signed-off-by: Joel Fernandes <joelaf@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>>> ---
>>>> include/linux/llist.h | 19 ++++++++++---------
>>>> 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
>>>>
>>>> diff --git a/include/linux/llist.h b/include/linux/llist.h
>>>> index fd4ca0b..15e4949 100644
>>>> --- a/include/linux/llist.h
>>>> +++ b/include/linux/llist.h
>>>> @@ -3,14 +3,15 @@
>>>> /*
>>>> * Lock-less NULL terminated single linked list
>>>> *
>>>> - * If there are multiple producers and multiple consumers, llist_add
>>>> - * can be used in producers and llist_del_all can be used in
>>>> - * consumers. They can work simultaneously without lock. But
>>>> - * llist_del_first can not be used here. Because llist_del_first
>>>> - * depends on list->first->next does not changed if list->first is not
>>>> - * changed during its operation, but llist_del_first, llist_add,
>>>> - * llist_add (or llist_del_all, llist_add, llist_add) sequence in
>>>> - * another consumer may violate that.
>>>> + * If there are multiple producers and multiple consumers, llist_add can be
>>>> + * used in producers and llist_del_all can be used in consumers. They can work
>>>> + * simultaneously without lock. But llist_del_first will need to use a lock
>>>> + * with any other operation (ABA problem). This is because llist_del_first
>>>> + * depends on list->first->next not changing but there's no way to be sure
>>>> + * about that and the cmpxchg in llist_del_first may succeed if list->first is
>>>> + * the same after concurrent operations. For example, a llist_del_first,
>>>> + * llist_add, llist_add (or llist_del_all, llist_add, llist_add) sequence in
>>>> + * another consumer may cause violations.
>>>> *
>>>> * If there are multiple producers and one consumer, llist_add can be
>>>> * used in producers and llist_del_all or llist_del_first can be used
>>>> @@ -19,7 +20,7 @@
>>>> * This can be summarized as follow:
>>>> *
>>>> * | add | del_first | del_all
>>>> - * add | - | - | -
>>>> + * add | - | L | -
>>>
>>> If there are only one consumer which only calls llist_del_first(), lock
>>> is unnecessary. So '-' is shown here originally. But if there are
>>> multiple consumers which call llist_del_first() or llist_del_all(), lock
>>> is needed.
>>
>> I think this needs to be made more clear in the table. The table
>> doesn't clear say whether it describes the preceding paragraph
>> (multiple producers and one consumer), or if it describes the multiple
>> producers and one consumer case. So either we should have 2 tables, or
>
> Sorry, I meant "or if it describes the multiple producer and multiple
> consumer case".
I tried to describe both cases in the original table.
* | add | del_first | del_all
* add | - | - | -
* del_first | | L | L
* del_all | | | -
The 'L' for "del_first * del_first" means multiple consumers uses
llist_del_first() need lock. And the 'L' for 'del_first * del_all'
means multiple consumers uses llist_del_first() and llist_del_all() need
lock.
Best Regards,
Huang, Ying