srcu: Update comment after the index flip
authorPaul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>
Wed, 21 Dec 2022 16:32:51 +0000 (08:32 -0800)
committerPaul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>
Wed, 4 Jan 2023 01:49:23 +0000 (17:49 -0800)
commitdafc4d1603c27671adc2b41eb7e7827f8cc18961
tree9a0d893771f9abe3fb94f3175fa2f9f3d44f20ae
parent0cd4b50b12d96d668b0627c149b19b5784ad4898
srcu: Update comment after the index flip

Because there is not guaranteed to be a full memory barrier between
the ->srcu_unlock_count increment of an srcu_read_unlock() and the
->srcu_lock_count increment of the next srcu_read_lock(), this next
srcu_read_lock() is not guaranteed to see the effect of the index flip
just prior to this comment.  However, this next srcu_read_lock() will
execute a full memory barrier, so the srcu_read_lock() after that is
guaranteed to see that index flip.

This guarantee is illustrated by the following diagram of events and
the litmus test following that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

READER                  UPDATER
-------------           ----------
                           // idx is initially 0.

                           srcu_flip() {
                              smp_mb();
// RSCS

srcu_read_unlock() {
  smp_mb();
                              idx++;    // P
                              smp_mb(); // QQ
                           }

                           srcu_readers_unlock_idx(0) {
        ,--counted------------ count all unlock[0]; // Q
        |
  unlock[0]++;  // X

}
                               smp_mb();
srcu_read_lock() {
  READ(idx) = 0;         ,---- count all lock[0]; // contributes imbalance of 1.
  lock[0]++;  ----counted              |
  smp_mb(); // PP          }           |
}                                      |
                                       |
// RSCS                             not going to effect above scan
                                       |
srcu_read_unlock() {                   |
  smp_mb();                            |
  unlock[0]++;                         |
}                                      |
                                      /
                                     /
srcu_read_lock() {                  |
  READ(idx);  // Y  -----cannot be counted because of P (has to sample idx as 1)
  lock[1]++;
  ...
}

------------------------------------------------------------------------

This makes it similar to the store buffer pattern. Using X, Y, P and Q
annotated above, we get:

------------------------------------------------------------------------

READER                    UPDATER
X (write)                 P (write)

smp_mb(); //PP            smp_mb(); //QQ

Y (read)                  Q (read)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASCII art courtesy of Joel Fernandes.

Reported-by: Joel Fernandes <joel@joelfernandes.org>
Reported-by: Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@gmail.com>
Reported-by: Frederic Weisbecker <frederic@kernel.org>
Reported-by: Neeraj Upadhyay <quic_neeraju@quicinc.com>
Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>
kernel/rcu/srcutree.c