[PATCH bpf-next 3/3] bpf,docs: Update documentation to reflect new task kfuncs

From: David Vernet
Date: Thu Mar 30 2023 - 20:58:08 EST


Now that struct task_struct objects are RCU safe, and bpf_task_acquire()
can return NULL, we should update the BPF task kfunc documentation to
reflect the current state of the API.

Signed-off-by: David Vernet <void@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/bpf/kfuncs.rst | 49 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
1 file changed, 43 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/bpf/kfuncs.rst b/Documentation/bpf/kfuncs.rst
index bf1b85941452..d8a16c4bef7f 100644
--- a/Documentation/bpf/kfuncs.rst
+++ b/Documentation/bpf/kfuncs.rst
@@ -471,13 +471,50 @@ struct_ops callback arg. For example:
struct task_struct *acquired;

acquired = bpf_task_acquire(task);
+ if (acquired)
+ /*
+ * In a typical program you'd do something like store
+ * the task in a map, and the map will automatically
+ * release it later. Here, we release it manually.
+ */
+ bpf_task_release(acquired);
+ return 0;
+ }
+
+
+References acquired on ``struct task_struct *`` objects are RCU protected.
+Therefore, when in an RCU read region, you can obtain a pointer to a task
+embedded in a map value without having to acquire a reference:
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+ #define private(name) SEC(".data." #name) __hidden __attribute__((aligned(8)))
+ private(TASK) static struct task_struct *global;
+
+ /**
+ * A trivial example showing how to access a task stored
+ * in a map using RCU.
+ */
+ SEC("tp_btf/task_newtask")
+ int BPF_PROG(task_rcu_read_example, struct task_struct *task, u64 clone_flags)
+ {
+ struct task_struct *local_copy;
+
+ bpf_rcu_read_lock();
+ local_copy = global;
+ if (local_copy)
+ /*
+ * We could also pass local_copy to kfuncs or helper functions here,
+ * as we're guaranteed that local_copy will be valid until we exit
+ * the RCU read region below.
+ */
+ bpf_printk("Global task %s is valid", local_copy->comm);
+ else
+ bpf_printk("No global task found");
+ bpf_rcu_read_unlock();
+
+ /* At this point we can no longer reference local_copy. */

- /*
- * In a typical program you'd do something like store
- * the task in a map, and the map will automatically
- * release it later. Here, we release it manually.
- */
- bpf_task_release(acquired);
return 0;
}

--
2.39.0