Re: [PATCH] cgroup/cpuset: Change nr_deadline_tasks to an atomic_t value

[Waiman Long]

On 10/10/23 15:44, Waiman Long wrote:
> On 10/10/23 01:34, Juri Lelli wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > On 09/10/23 15:15, Waiman Long wrote:
> > > The nr_deadline_tasks field in cpuset structure was introduced by
> > > commit 6c24849f5515 ("sched/cpuset: Keep track of SCHED_DEADLINE task
> > > in cpusets"). Unlike nr_migrate_dl_tasks which is only modified under
> > > cpuset_mutex, nr_deadline_tasks can be updated in various contexts
> > > under different locks. As a result, data races may happen that cause
> > > incorrect value to be stored in nr_deadline_tasks leading to incorrect
> > Could you please make an example of such data races?
>
> Since update to cs->nr_deadline_tasks is not protected by a single 
> lock, it is possible that multiple CPUs may try to modify it at the 
> same time.  It is possible that nr_deadline_tasks++ and 
> nr_deadline_tasks-- can be done in a single instruction like in x86 
> and hence atomic. However, operation like "cs->nr_deadline_tasks += 
> cs->nr_migrate_dl_tasks" is likely a RMW operation and so is subjected 
> to racing. It is mostly theoretical, but probably not impossible.

Sorry, even increment and decrement operators are not atomic.

inc_dl_tasks_cs() is only called from switched_to_dl() in deadline.c 
which is protected by the rq_lock, but there are multiple rq's. 
dec_dl_tasks_cs() is called from switched_from_dl() in deadline.c and 
cgroup_exit() in cgroup.c. The later one is protected by css_set_lock. 
The other place where nr_deadline_tasks can be changed is in 
cpuset_attach() protected by cpuset_mutex.

Cheers,
Longman