Re: Reasoning about memory ordering

From: Andrea Parri
Date: Fri Feb 23 2018 - 12:32:16 EST


On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 02:30:22PM +0200, Nikolay Borisov wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'm cc'ing a bunch of people I know are well-versed in
> the black arts of memory ordering!
>
> Currently in btrfs we have roughly the following sequence:
>
> T1: T2:
> i_size_write(inode, newsize);
> set_bit(BTRFS_INODE_READDIO_NEED_LOCK, &inode->runtime_flags); atomic_inc(&inode->i_dio_count);
> smp_mb(); if (iov_iter_rw(iter) == READ) {
> if (test_bit(BTRFS_INODE_READDIO_NEED_LOCK, &BTRFS_I(inode)->runtime_flags)) {
> if (atomic_read(&inode->i_dio_count)) { if (atomic_dec_and_test(&inode->i_dio_count))
> wait_queue_head_t *wq = bit_waitqueue(&inode->i_state, __I_DIO_WAKEUP); wake_up_bit(&inode->i_state, __I_DIO_WAKEUP);
> DEFINE_WAIT_BIT(q, &inode->i_state, __I_DIO_WAKEUP); }
> if (offset >= i_size_read(inode))
> do { return;
> prepare_to_wait(wq, &q.wq_entry, TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE); }
> if (atomic_read(&inode->i_dio_count))
> schedule();
> } while (atomic_read(&inode->i_dio_count));
> finish_wait(wq, &q.wq_entry);
> }
>
> smp_mb__before_atomic();
> clear_bit(BTRFS_INODE_READDIO_NEED_LOCK, &inode->runtime_flags);
>
> The semantics I'm after are:
>
> 1. If T1 goes to sleep, then T2 would see the
> BTRFS_INODE_READDIO_NEED_LOCK and hence will execute the
> atomic_dec_and_test and possibly wake up T1. This flag serves as a way
> to indicate to possibly multiple T2 (dio readers) that T1 is blocked
> and they should unblock it and resort to acquiring some locks (this is not
> visible in this excerpt of code for brevity). It's sort of a back-off
> mechanism.

I don't see how this could be guaranteed, even in a sequentially consistent
world (disclaimer: I'm certainly not familiar with btrfs): what is wrong in

T1 T2

atomic_inc(i_dio_count)
test_bit(NEED_LOCK, flags) // unset
set_bit(NEED_LOCK, flags)
atomic_read(i_dio_count) // >1
--> go to sleep

Thanks,
Andrea


>
> 2. BTRFS_INODE_READDIO_NEED_LOCK bit must be set _before_ going to sleep
>
> 3. BTRFS_INODE_READDIO_NEED_LOCK must be cleared _after_ the thread has
> been woken up.
>
> 4. After T1 is woken up, it's possible that a new T2 comes and doesn't see
> the BTRFS_INODE_READDIO_NEED_LOCK flag set but this is fine, since the check
> for i_size should cause T2 to just return (it will also execute atomic_dec_and_test)
>
> Given this is the current state of the code (it's part of btrfs) I believe
> the following could/should be done:
>
> 1. The smp_mb after the set_bit in T1 could be removed, since there is
> already an implied full mm in prepare_to_wait. That is if we go to sleep,
> then T2 is guaranteed to see the flag/i_size_write happening by merit of
> the implied memory barrier in prepare_to_wait/schedule. But what if it doesn't
> go to sleep? I still would like the i_size_write to be visible to T2
>
> 2. The bit clearing code in T1 should be possible to be replaced by
> clear_bit_unlock (this was suggested by PeterZ on IRC).
>
> 3. I suspect there is a memory barrier in T2 that is missing. Perhaps
> there should be an smp_mb__before_atomic right before the test_bit so that
> it's ordered with the implied smp_mb in T1's prepare_to_wait.