Re: [PATCH] seqlock: Use WRITE_ONCE() when updating sequence

[Waiman Long]

On 12/18/24 11:57 AM, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 18, 2024 at 11:10:01AM -0500, Waiman Long wrote:
> > On 12/18/24 10:45 AM, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> > > On Tue, Dec 17, 2024 at 10:30:39PM -0500, Waiman Long wrote:
> > > > For seqcount, its actual value isn't important. What is important is whether
> > > > the value changes and whether it is even or odd. So even if store tearing is
> > > > happening, it shouldn't affect its operation. I doubt we need to use
> > > > WRITE_ONCE() here. Could you come up with a scenario where store tearing
> > > > will make it behave incorrectly?
> > > But why expand the state space?
> > I don't quite get what you mean by "state space".
> The state space includes the set of possible values that might be stored
> in .sequence at any given point in time.  So if you allow the compiler to
> tear the store, you are increasing the number of values that a concurrent
> reader can return, and thus also increasing the number of states that must
> be considered.  On the other hand, if you use WRITE_ONCE() to constrain
> the compiler to do a single store, then you don't have to even worry
> about the added states due to these partial updates.

Thanks for the explanation. Now I know what you mean.

As I said above, the correct operation of seqcount does not depend on 
getting its intended value right. It is just its odd/even-ness as well 
as if the value has been changed from previous read. That is the state 
space where seqcount is operated on.

> > > Also, there are potentially "optimizations" other than store tearing.
> > > No, I haven't seen them yet, but then again, there were a great many
> > > optimizations that were not being used back when I started coding C.
> > All the inc's are bounded by smp_wmb()'s which should limit the kind of
> > optimizations that can be done by the compiler. That is why I don't see a
> > need to use WRITE_ONCE() here. Of course, there may be some corner cases
> > that I may miss. So I ask for whether such a case exists.
> One other potential optimization is using the variable for scratch storage
> immediately prior to the update, which could store any value there.
> I haven't seen this myself, but the standard permits it, and in some
> cases register pressure might encourage it.
>
> And who knows what else our creative compiler writers will come up with?

If the compiler really uses the variable as a scratch storage, it will 
be a problem if the variable can be accessed concurrently from multiple 
CPUs. It is a new compiler optimization strategy that I am aware before. 
In that case, we may really need a way to mark these variables as not 
suitable for such advanced optimization.

Thanks,
Longman

> 							Thanx, Paul