On 06/28/2018 01:31 AM, Heiner Litz wrote:
There is a control dependency between two disjoint variables (only read
data if flags == WRITTEN). Because x86-TSO allows re-ordering of loads
the control dependency can be violated.
I'm sorry, I do not see it :)
Here is my understanding:
entry->w_ctx.flags is used as a flagging mechanism to wait for data to
become available when "flags" has PBLK_WRITTEN_DATA.
The later access to entry->data is independent of this. It is assumed
that entry->w_ctx.flags is the guarding barrier.
Here is the titbit from the control dependency section that makes me say
that the entry->data loads is not possible to be done before
entry->w_ctx.flags:
" (*) Control dependencies apply only to the then-clause and else-clause
of the if-statement containing the control dependency, including
any functions that these two clauses call. Control dependencies
do -not- apply to code following the if-statement containing the
control dependency."
The read of entry->data must come after the READ_ONCE of
entry->w_ctx.flags.
https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt refers to
the above scenario as control dependency but your description is of
course also correct. Let me know if we should clarify the comment.
BTW: ARM has an even more relaxed memory model and also allows to
re-order writes. If we want to support ARM correctly, I think we also
need to insert a memory barrier between writing data and writing flags
(and there might be a couple other places where we need to check).
On Fri, Jun 22, 2018, 11:02 AM Matias Bjørling <m...@lightnvm.io
<mailto:m...@lightnvm.io>> wrote:
On 06/21/2018 12:54 AM, Heiner Litz wrote:
> READ_ONCE does not imply a read memory barrier in the presence of
control
> dependencies between two separate memory locations (flags and
data). On x86
> TSO, reading from the data page might be reordered before the
flags read.
> See chapter CONTROL DEPENDENCIES in
> https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
>
> Signed-off-by: Heiner Litz <hl...@ucsc.edu <mailto:hl...@ucsc.edu>>
> ---
> drivers/lightnvm/pblk-rb.c | 3 +++
> 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/lightnvm/pblk-rb.c b/drivers/lightnvm/pblk-rb.c
> index a81a97e..5f09983 100644
> --- a/drivers/lightnvm/pblk-rb.c
> +++ b/drivers/lightnvm/pblk-rb.c
> @@ -545,6 +545,9 @@ unsigned int pblk_rb_read_to_bio(struct
pblk_rb *rb, struct nvm_rq *rqd,
> goto try;
> }
>
> + /* Observe control dependency between flags and
data read */
> + smp_rmb();
> +
> page = virt_to_page(entry->data);
> if (!page) {
> pr_err("pblk: could not allocate write bio
page\n");
>
Hi Heiner,
Can you help explain how it is a control dependency? What case am I
missing?
The way I read the code, there is the case where a read of entry->data
happens before entry->w_ctx.flags, but I see that as a memory
reordering, which the smp_rmb() fixes. Would that be more accurate?
Thank you,
Matias
