Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1755700Ab1DORpD (ORCPT ); Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:45:03 -0400 Received: from mail.openrapids.net ([64.15.138.104]:52986 "EHLO blackscsi.openrapids.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752264Ab1DORpA (ORCPT ); Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:45:00 -0400 Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:44:51 -0400 From: Mathieu Desnoyers To: "Paul E. McKenney" Cc: Huang Ying , Len Brown , "linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org" , Andi Kleen , "Luck, Tony" , "linux-acpi@vger.kernel.org" , Andrew Morton Subject: Re: [PATCH -v3 3/4] lib, Make gen_pool memory allocator lockless Message-ID: <20110415174451.GB19644@Krystal> References: <1302684835-14133-1-git-send-email-ying.huang@intel.com> <1302684835-14133-4-git-send-email-ying.huang@intel.com> <20110413210757.GA11683@Krystal> <4DA7903B.5030508@intel.com> <20110415164629.GA13983@Krystal> <20110415174320.GA2283@linux.vnet.ibm.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20110415174320.GA2283@linux.vnet.ibm.com> X-Editor: vi X-Info: http://www.efficios.com X-Operating-System: Linux/2.6.26-2-686 (i686) X-Uptime: 13:44:29 up 142 days, 22:47, 4 users, load average: 0.00, 0.03, 0.04 User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.18 (2008-05-17) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2532 Lines: 58 * Paul E. McKenney (paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com) wrote: > On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 12:46:29PM -0400, Mathieu Desnoyers wrote: > > * Huang Ying (ying.huang@intel.com) wrote: > > > On 04/14/2011 05:07 AM, Mathieu Desnoyers wrote: > > > > * Huang Ying (ying.huang@intel.com) wrote: > > > > [...] > > > >> + * rcu_read_lock and rcu_read_unlock is not used int gen_pool_alloc, > > > >> + * gen_pool_free, gen_pool_avail and gen_pool_size etc, because chunks > > > >> + * are only added into pool, not deleted from pool unless the pool > > > >> + * itself is destroyed. If chunk will be deleted from pool, > > > >> + * rcu_read_lock and rcu_read_unlock should be uses in these > > > >> + * functions. > > > > > > > > So how do you protect between pool destruction and adding chunks into > > > > the pool ? > > > > > > Because the pool itself will be freed when destruction, we need some > > > mechanism outside of pool. For example, if gen_pool_add() is called via > > > device file IOCTL, we must un-register the device file first, and > > > destroy the pool after the last reference to device has gone. > > > > I am concerned about the list_for_each_entry_rcu() (and thus > > rcu_dereference_raw()) used outside of rcu_read_lock/unlock pairs. > > Validation infrastructure as recently been added to RCU: it triggers > > warnings when these situations are encountered in some RCU debugging > > configurations. The case of RCU list iteration is not covered by the > > checks, but it would make sense to be aware of it. > > > > So although it seems like your code does not require rcu read lock > > critical sections, I'd prefer to let Paul McKenney have a look. > > As long as you add elements and never remove them, then you can get > away with using list_for_each_entry_rcu() outside of an RCU read-side > critical section. But please comment this -- it is all too easy > for someone to decide later to start deleting elements without also > inserting the needed rcu_read_lock() and rcu_read_unlock() pairs. > > But I have lost the thread -- what code am I supposed to look at? You can have a look at https://lkml.org/lkml/2011/4/13/56 Thanks! Mathieu > > Thanx, Paul -- Mathieu Desnoyers Operating System Efficiency R&D Consultant EfficiOS Inc. http://www.efficios.com -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/