From:   Florian Weimer <fweimer@redhat.com>
To:     linux-api@vger.kernel.org,
        Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com>
Cc:     Jann Horn <jannh@google.com>, libc-alpha@sourceware.org,
        linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: rseq + membarrier programming model
Date:   Mon, 13 Dec 2021 19:47:57 +0100
Message-ID: <87tufctk82.fsf@oldenburg.str.redhat.com>
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I've been studying Jann Horn's biased locking example:

  Re: [PATCH 0/4 POC] Allow executing code and syscalls in another address space
  <https://lore.kernel.org/linux-api/CAG48ez02UDn_yeLuLF4c=kX0=h2Qq8Fdb0cer1yN8atbXSNjkQ@mail.gmail.com/>

It uses MEMBARRIER_CMD_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED_RSEQ as part of the biased lock
revocation.

How does the this code know that the process has called
MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED_RSEQ?  Could it fall back to
MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL instead?  Why is it that MEMBARRIER_CMD_GLOBAL
does not require registration (the broader/more expensive barrier), but
the more restricted versions do?

Or put differently, why wouldn't we request
MEMBARRIER_CMD_REGISTER_PRIVATE_EXPEDITED_RSEQ unconditionally at
process start in glibc, once we start biased locking in a few places?

Thanks,
Florian