Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1751945AbdI2JId (ORCPT ); Fri, 29 Sep 2017 05:08:33 -0400 Received: from usa-sjc-mx-foss1.foss.arm.com ([217.140.101.70]:39930 "EHLO foss.arm.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1750709AbdI2JI3 (ORCPT ); Fri, 29 Sep 2017 05:08:29 -0400 Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2017 10:08:43 +0100 From: Will Deacon To: "Paul E. McKenney" Cc: Michael Cree , Peter Zijlstra , kirill.shutemov@linux.intel.com, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, ynorov@caviumnetworks.com, rruigrok@codeaurora.org, linux-arch@vger.kernel.org, akpm@linux-foundation.org, catalin.marinas@arm.com, rth@twiddle.net, ink@jurassic.park.msu.ru, mattst88@gmail.com, linux-alpha@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH 1/2] arm64: mm: Use READ_ONCE/WRITE_ONCE when accessing page tables Message-ID: <20170929090843.GB14791@arm.com> References: <1506527369-19535-1-git-send-email-will.deacon@arm.com> <1506527369-19535-2-git-send-email-will.deacon@arm.com> <20170928083801.m6rb4frbbgzgam2o@hirez.programming.kicks-ass.net> <20170928084535.GA19060@arm.com> <20170928154354.GK3521@linux.vnet.ibm.com> <20170928185909.kgwy36hkoqxqgyc3@tower> <20170929005830.GU3521@linux.vnet.ibm.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20170929005830.GU3521@linux.vnet.ibm.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.23 (2014-03-12) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2953 Lines: 62 On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 05:58:30PM -0700, Paul E. McKenney wrote: > On Fri, Sep 29, 2017 at 07:59:09AM +1300, Michael Cree wrote: > > On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 08:43:54AM -0700, Paul E. McKenney wrote: > > > On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 09:45:35AM +0100, Will Deacon wrote: > > > > On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 10:38:01AM +0200, Peter Zijlstra wrote: > > > > > On Wed, Sep 27, 2017 at 04:49:28PM +0100, Will Deacon wrote: > > > > > > In many cases, page tables can be accessed concurrently by either another > > > > > > CPU (due to things like fast gup) or by the hardware page table walker > > > > > > itself, which may set access/dirty bits. In such cases, it is important > > > > > > to use READ_ONCE/WRITE_ONCE when accessing page table entries so that > > > > > > entries cannot be torn, merged or subject to apparent loss of coherence. > > > > > > > > > > In fact, we should use lockless_dereference() for many of them. Yes > > > > > Alpha is the only one that cares about the difference between that and > > > > > READ_ONCE() and they do have the extra barrier, but if we're going to do > > > > > this, we might as well do it 'right' :-) > > > > > > > > I know this sounds daft, but I think one of the big reasons why > > > > lockless_dereference() doesn't get an awful lot of use is because it's > > > > such a mouthful! Why don't we just move the smp_read_barrier_depends() > > > > into READ_ONCE? Would anybody actually care about the potential impact on > > > > Alpha (which, frankly, is treading on thin ice given the low adoption of > > > > lockless_dereference())? > > > > > > This is my cue to ask my usual question... ;-) > > > > > > Are people still running mainline kernels on Alpha? (Added Alpha folks.) > > > > Yes. I run two Alpha build daemons that build the unofficial > > debian-alpha port. Debian popcon reports nine machines running > > Alpha, which are likely to be running the 4.12.y kernel which > > is currently in debian-alpha, (and presumably soon to be 4.13.y > > which is now built on Alpha in experimental). > > I salute your dedication to Alpha! ;-) Ok, but where does that leave us wrt my initial proposal of moving smp_read_barrier_depends() into READ_ONCE and getting rid of lockless_dereference? Michael (or anybody else running mainline on SMP Alpha) -- would you be able to give the diff below a spin and see whether there's a measurable performance impact? Cheers, Will --->8 diff --git a/include/linux/compiler.h b/include/linux/compiler.h index e95a2631e545..0ce21e25492a 100644 --- a/include/linux/compiler.h +++ b/include/linux/compiler.h @@ -340,6 +340,7 @@ static __always_inline void __write_once_size(volatile void *p, void *res, int s __read_once_size(&(x), __u.__c, sizeof(x)); \ else \ __read_once_size_nocheck(&(x), __u.__c, sizeof(x)); \ + smp_read_barrier_depends(); /* Enforce dependency ordering from x */ \ __u.__val; \ }) #define READ_ONCE(x) __READ_ONCE(x, 1)