On 09/19/2012 06:02 AM, liu ping fan wrote: > Currently, cpu_physical_memory_rw() can be used directly or indirectly > by mmio-dispatcher to access other devices' memory region. This can > cause some problem when adopting device's private lock. > > Back ground refer to: > http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2012-09/msg01481.html > For lazy, just refer to: > http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2012-09/msg01878.html > > > --1st. the recursive lock of biglock. > If we leave c_p_m_rw() as it is, ie, no lock inside. Then we can have > the following (section of the whole call chain, and with > private_lockA): > lockA-mmio-dispatcher --> hold biglock -- >c_p_m_rw() --- > > Before c_p_m_rw(), we drop private_lockA to anti the possibly of > deadlock. But we can not anti the nested of this chain or calling to > another lockB-mmio-dispatcher. So we can not avoid the possibility of > nested lock of biglock. And another important factor is that we break > the lock sequence: private_lock-->biglock. > All of these require us to push biglock's holding into c_p_m_rw(), the > wrapper can not give help.
I agree that this is unavoidable. > > --2nd. c_p_m_rw(), sync or async? > > IF we convert all of the device to be protected by refcount, then we can have > //no big lock > c_p_m_rw() > { > devB->ref++; > { > --------------------------------------->pushed onto another thread. > lock_privatelock > mr->ops->write(); > unlock_privatelock > } > wait_for_completion(); > devB->ref--; > } > This model can help c_p_m_rw() present as a SYNC API. But currently, > we mix biglock and private lock together, and wait_for_completion() > maybe block the release of big lock, which finally causes deadlock. So > we can not simply rely on this model. > Instead, we need to classify the calling scene into three cases: > case1. lockA--dispatcher ---> lockB-dispatcher //can use > async+completion model > case2. lockA--dispatcher ---> biglock-dispatcher // sync, but can > cause the nested lock of biglock > case3. biglock-dispacher ---> lockB-dispatcher // async to avoid > the lock sequence problem, (as to completion, it need to be placed > outside the top level biglock, and it is hard to do so. Suggest to > change to case 1. Or at present, just leave it async) > > This new model will require the biglock can be nested. I think changing to an async model is too complicated. It's difficult enough already. Isn't dropping private locks + recursive big locks sufficient? -- error compiling committee.c: too many arguments to function