The delta add can't really use atomic routines in this case, but the mutex could be split up more finely (we're only really locking that _item_, not the entire cache).

There *are* a number of places where atomic tests (from gcc and from solaris) would allow us to remove some locks. I think at least a few people from the list know where these parts are, and folks are just looking for time.

-Dormando

Paul van den Bogaard wrote:
if there are too many mutex calls these can become scalability issues. Solaris 10 has some atomic routines that could be helpfull. See http://cvs.opensolaris.org/source/xref/onnv/onnv-gate/usr/src/uts/common/sys/atomic.h

for the routines.

Of course if multiple operations are needed that need the protection of a mutex than a atomic operation is no alternative, besides a CPU consuming polling device. And sometimes these come in handy too.

--Paul


On 25-feb-2008, at 10:53, Steve Chu wrote:

On Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 4:28 PM, dormando <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Steve Chu wrote:
On Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 2:51 PM, dormando <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I think this is fine?

Since the operations are independently atomic, it's perfectly valid for
 two threads to incr the same value.


But for client api, they seems NOT atomic, because when Thread A just
has 'item_get' done but before 'add_delta', Thread B can still do
item_get.

X-> set "foo" 1
A-> item_get "foo"
B-> item_get "foo"
A-> add_delta "foo" by 1
B-> add_delta "foo" by 1

then A and B both hold value 2, which one should be stored?

And the exact value we need is 3, right? I am not quit sure, correct
me if i am wrong:)

 The result gets copied into the thread-local 'temp' buffer, then copied
 into that connection (implicitly atomic)'s output buffer.

 So actually I read the code wrong the first time. This _should_ do the
 right thing:

 We have threads (A, B, X):

 X -> set 'foo' 1

 A -> process_arithmetic_command()
 note thread local storage (char temp[])
 B -> same.

 A -> it = item_get(key, nkey)
 (atomically increments the refcount for that item, returns a reference
 to it)
 B -> same, same time.
 (same)

 A -> out_string(c, add_delta(it, incr, delta, temp));
 add_delta runs atomically, copies the result of the addition into the
 thread local 'temp' buffer and _returns the 'temp' buffer_ (which
 contains 2)
 B -> out_string(c, add_delta(it, incr, delta, temp));
 Gets serialized behind A, and its 'temp' then holds a value one higher
 than A's (containing 3)

Here I am confused. Every thread has a local var 'temp' and here
'temp' should hold 2.  'temp' is independent, and doesn't share
between threads. So thread B should overwrite the value in the
slabber. Am I right?

 A -> runs out_string(c, temp), with 'temp' having the atomically
 incremented value.
 A -> inside out_string, copy's the contents of the original 'temp'
 buffer into the connection's local write buffer, then sets the
 connection into write mode (which will flush its buffer before doing
 further processing). Then returns.
 A -> returns to the state machine, 'temp' goes to the wolves, etc.
 A -> sends value '2' to its client.

 B -> Same thing. Client should receive a '3'.

Apologies to the original patch author and the list for the confusion :)
 I had mentally confused "normal" responses and "get" responses, which
 operate differently.

 -Dormando



 It's possible that with two threads (A, B):

 X -> set "foo" 1
 A -> incr "foo" by 1
 B -> incr "foo" by 1

 A -> returns 3
 B -> returns 3

The only guarantee the slabber makes for returning values, is that they
 won't get deleted before being transferred through the network.

 Could be wrong, but that's my impression from checking the sources.

 -Dormando



 Steve Chu wrote:
In 'process_arithmetic_command' function:
We first do item_get from slabs and then do add_delta to incr/decr the value.

My question is:
Is this atomic in multithread mode? Item_get is atomic and so is
add_delta because they are protected by mutex. But the entire two
operations seems NOT atomic. Two threads can both do item_get with
same key, then both incr it, and write back.

Anybody can tell me whether it is a bug or not?

Regards,

Steve Chu








--
Steve Chu
http://stvchu.org

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul van den Bogaard [EMAIL PROTECTED]
ISV-E  -- ISV Engineering, Opensource Engineering group

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