Re: [PATCH v2] arm64: tlbflush: Don't broadcast if mm was only active on local cpu

[Ryan Roberts]

On 19/06/2026 16:34, Will Deacon wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 15, 2026 at 04:41:04PM +0100, Ryan Roberts wrote:
>> On 15/06/2026 15:43, Will Deacon wrote:
>>> On Mon, Jun 15, 2026 at 12:21:19PM +0100, Ryan Roberts wrote:
>>>>>> +	self = smp_processor_id();
>>>>>> +
>>>>>> +	/*
>>>>>> +	 * The load of mm->context.active_cpu must not be reordered before the
>>>>>> +	 * store to the pgtable that necessitated this flush. This ensures that
>>>>>> +	 * if the value read is our cpu id, then no other cpu can have seen the
>>>>>> +	 * old pgtable value and therefore does not need this old value to be
>>>>>> +	 * flushed from its tlb. But we don't want to upgrade the dsb(ishst),
>>>>>> +	 * needed to make the pgtable updates visible to the walker, to a
>>>>>> +	 * dsb(ish) by default. So speculatively load without a barrier and if
>>>>>> +	 * it indicates our cpu id, then upgrade the barrier and re-load.
>>>>>> +	 */
>>>>>> +	active = READ_ONCE(mm->context.active_cpu);
>>>>>> +	if (active == self) {
>>>>>> +		dsb(ish);
>>>>>> +		active = READ_ONCE(mm->context.active_cpu);
>>>>>> +	} else {
>>>>>> +		dsb(ishst);
>>>>>> +	}
>>>>>
>>>>> Why can't you just do:
>>>>>
>>>>> 	dsb(ishst);
>>>>> 	active = READ_ONCE(mm->context.active_cpu);
>>>>>
>>>>> ?
>>>>
>>>> Prior to this optimization, we always issued a dsb(ishst) here. Catalin
>>>> suggested the same simplification against the RFC. I believe Linu tried it but
>>>> saw regressions; Hopefully Linu can provide the details.
>>>
>>> I don't follow...
>>>
>>> The old code always did dsb(ishst). The proposed code here does either
>>> dsb(ish) or dsb(ishst). How can that possibly be faster?
>>
>> Ugh, sorry - I read your suggestion as unconditionally issuing a dsb(ish).
>>
>> Ignore my previous answer, and now I'll demonstrate my total lack of
>> understanding of barriers instead...
>>
>> As the comment says, "The load of mm->context.active_cpu must not be reordered
>> before the store to the pgtable that necessitated this flush". I thought that a
>> dsb(ishst) would only provide ordering between stores. Don't we need the
>> dsb(ish) to prevent the load from being reordered before the store?
> 
> dsb(ishst) orders prior stores -> everything later. That's why it works
> today for ordered a PTE write before a TLBI (which isn't a store).

Ahh, that simplifies things then!

> 
> Will