Re: [PATCH v6 4/7] arm64: perf: Defer irq_work to IPI_IRQ_WORK

[peterz]

On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 02:34:16PM +0100, Alexandru Elisei wrote:
> From: Julien Thierry <julien.thierry@xxxxxxx>
> 
> When handling events, armv8pmu_handle_irq() calls perf_event_overflow(),
> and subsequently calls irq_work_run() to handle any work queued by
> perf_event_overflow(). As perf_event_overflow() raises IPI_IRQ_WORK when
> queuing the work, this isn't strictly necessary and the work could be
> handled as part of the IPI_IRQ_WORK handler.
> 
> In the common case the IPI handler will run immediately after the PMU IRQ
> handler, and where the PE is heavily loaded with interrupts other handlers
> may run first, widening the window where some counters are disabled.
> 
> In practice this window is unlikely to be a significant issue, and removing
> the call to irq_work_run() would make the PMU IRQ handler NMI safe in
> addition to making it simpler, so let's do that.

Makes sense, IIRC this code was written before ARM grew IPI_IRQ_WORK
support and then it makes sense, but now that you have it and are moving
to NMI-like context this is absolutely the right thing to do.