this patch is the next step in the journey to get top-notch threading
support implemented under Linux.
every Linux kernel in existence, including 2.5.31, has a fundamentally
unscalable sys_exit() implementation, with an overhead that goes up if the
number of tasks in the system goes up. It does not matter whether those
tasks are doing any work - just sleeping indefinitely causes sys_exit()
overhead to go up.
200 tasks is typical for a relatively idle server system. 1000 tasks or
more is not uncommon during usual server load on a midrange server.
There are servers that use 5000 tasks or more. It is not uncommon for
highly threaded code to use even more threads - client/server models are
often the easiest to implement by using a per-connection thread model.
[Eg. vsftpd, one of the fastest and most secure FTP servers under Linux,
uses 2 (often 3) threads per client connection [which, for security reason
is implemented via inside per-client isolated processes].]
Some numbers to back this up, i've tested 2.5.31-BK-curr on a 525 MHz
PIII, it produces the following lat_proc fork+exit latencies:
# of tasks in the system 200 1000 2000 4000
------------------------------------------------------------------
./lat_proc fork+exit (microseconds): 743.0 923.1 1153.4 1622.2
it can be seen that the fork()+exit() overhead more than doubles with
every 4000 tasks in the system.
for threaded applications the situation is even worse. A threading
benchmark that just tests the (linear) creation and exit of 100 thousand
threads using the old glibc libpthreads library, gives the following
results:
# of tasks in the system 200 1000 2000 4000
------------------------------------------------------------------
./perf -s 100000 -t 1 -r 0 -T
in seconds: 17.8 37.3 61.1 108.0
latency of single-thread create+exit
in microseconds: 178 373 611 1080
using the same test linked against new libpthreads:
# of tasks in the system 200 1000 2000 4000
------------------------------------------------------------------
./perf -s 100000 -t 1 -r 0 -T
in seconds: 6.8 25.6 48.7 95.1
latency of single-thread create+exit
in microseconds: 68 256 487 951
the same regression happens as in the old-pthreads case, but with a
(dramatically) lower baseline [which are due to the other optimizations].
With a couple of hundred threads created, the thread create+exit latency
becomes dominated by the hefty sys_exit() overhead.
all in one - sys_exit() is O(nr_tasks), and heavily so - even a reasonable
number of completely idle tasks increase the exit() overhead very visibly.
why is sys_exit() so expensive? The main overhead is in
forget_original_parent(), which must be called for every thread that
exits: the kernel has to find all children the exiting task has created
during its lifetime, and has to 'reparent' them to some other task. The
current implementation uses a for_each_task() over every task in the
system, and finds those tasks whose real parent is the now exiting task.
This is a fundamental work of the kernel that cannot be optimized away -
the child/parent tree must always stay coherent.
but the for_each_task() iteration is excessive. There is a subtle reason
for it though: ptrace reparents debugged tasks to the debugging task,
which detaches the child from the original parent. Thus
forget_original_parent() has to search the whole tasklist, to make sure
even debugged tasks are properly reparented.
the attached patch (against BK-curr) reimplements this logic in a scalable
way: the pthreads code also maintains a global list of debugged tasks -
which list is usually empty in a normal system. It has at most a few tasks
- those one which are debugged currently. This list can be maintained very
cheaply, in a number of strategic places.
forget_original_parent() then searched the exiting task's ->children list,
plus the global ptrace list. In the usual 'task has no children and there
are no debugged tasks around' case this becomes as cheap as two
list_empty() tests!
now on to the performance results, on the same 525 MHz PIII box, lat_proc:
# of tasks in the system 200 1000 2000 4000
----------------------------------------------------------------------
./lat_proc fork+exit (microseconds):
657.1 680.6 640.8 682.5
(unpatched kernel results): (743.0) (923.1) (1153.4) (1622.2)
process creation latency is essentially constant, it's independent of the
number of tasks in the system. Even the baseline results got improved by
more than 10%. For the 4000 tasks case the speedup is more than 130%.
the speedup is even bigger for threaded applications using the old
pthreads code:
# of tasks in the system 200 1000 2000 4000
--------------------------------------------------------------------
./perf -s 100000 -t 1 -r 0 -T
in seconds: 12.6 12.8 11.9 11.9
(unpatched results): (17.8) (37.3) (61.1) (108.0)
latency of single-thread create+exit
in microseconds: 126 128 119 119
(unpatched kernel): (178) (373) (611) (1080)
improvement: 41% 191% 413% 807%
ie. in the 4000 tasks case the improvement is almost 10-fold!
testing the new glibc libpthreads code shows dramatic improvements:
# of tasks in the system 200 1000 2000 4000
------------------------------------------------------------------
./perf -s 100000 -t 1 -r 0 -T
in seconds: 1.7 1.9 1.9 1.9
(unpatched results): (6.8) (25.6) (48.7) (95.1)
latency of single-thread create+exit
in microseconds: 17 19 19 19
(unpatched kernel): (68) (256) (487) (951)
improvement: 300% 1247% 2463% 4900%
in the 200 tasks case the speedup is 4-fold, in the 4000 tasks case the
speedup is 50-fold (!). Thread create+destroy latency is a steady 19
usecs. This also enables the head-to-head comparison of old pthreads and
new libpthreads: new libpthreads is more than 6 times faster. This is what
i'd finally call good threading performance.
the hardest part of the patch was to make sure ptrace() semantics are
still correct. I believe i have managed to at least test the typical
workload: i've tested a complex mix of high-load strace situations,
threaded and unthreaded code as well, SMP and UP, so i'm reasonably
certain that it works for the kind of load i use on my systems. [ But
ptrace() is complex beyond belief, so i might as well have missed some of
the subtler items. ]
- the patch also includes another optimization to make bash's wait4() job
easier as well: wait4() does not have to consider non-debugged
CLONE_DETACHED tasks, it wont get any exit code from them, and those
tasks can clean themselves up.
- the patch also cleans up the <linux/ptrace.h> includes, and moves the
pthread specific declarations from mm.h to ptrace.h - most of the
existing includes were bogus.
Comments?
Ingo
--- linux/arch/i386/kernel/irq.c.orig Mon Aug 19 12:10:27 2002
+++ linux/arch/i386/kernel/irq.c Mon Aug 19 12:11:21 2002
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
*/
#include <linux/config.h>
-#include <linux/ptrace.h>
#include <linux/errno.h>
#include <linux/signal.h>
#include <linux/sched.h>
--- linux/arch/i386/kernel/i8259.c.orig Mon Aug 19 12:11:00 2002
+++ linux/arch/i386/kernel/i8259.c Mon Aug 19 12:11:05 2002
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
#include <linux/config.h>
-#include <linux/ptrace.h>
#include <linux/errno.h>
#include <linux/signal.h>
#include <linux/sched.h>
--- linux/arch/i386/kernel/process.c.orig Mon Aug 19 12:38:47 2002
+++ linux/arch/i386/kernel/process.c Mon Aug 19 12:38:49 2002
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
#include <linux/smp_lock.h>
#include <linux/stddef.h>
#include <linux/unistd.h>
-#include <linux/ptrace.h>
#include <linux/slab.h>
#include <linux/vmalloc.h>
#include <linux/user.h>
--- linux/arch/i386/kernel/signal.c.orig Mon Aug 19 12:38:56 2002
+++ linux/arch/i386/kernel/signal.c Mon Aug 19 12:38:58 2002
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
#include <linux/signal.h>
#include <linux/errno.h>
#include <linux/wait.h>
-#include <linux/ptrace.h>
#include <linux/unistd.h>
#include <linux/stddef.h>
#include <linux/personality.h>
--- linux/arch/i386/kernel/traps.c.orig Mon Aug 19 12:39:05 2002
+++ linux/arch/i386/kernel/traps.c Mon Aug 19 12:39:06 2002
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
#include <linux/kernel.h>
#include <linux/string.h>
#include <linux/errno.h>
-#include <linux/ptrace.h>
#include <linux/timer.h>
#include <linux/mm.h>
#include <linux/init.h>
--- linux/arch/i386/kernel/vm86.c.orig Mon Aug 19 12:39:17 2002
+++ linux/arch/i386/kernel/vm86.c Mon Aug 19 12:39:20 2002
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
#include <linux/kernel.h>
#include <linux/signal.h>
#include <linux/string.h>
-#include <linux/ptrace.h>
#include <linux/mm.h>
#include <linux/smp.h>
#include <linux/smp_lock.h>
--- linux/include/linux/sched.h.orig Mon Aug 19 11:57:00 2002
+++ linux/include/linux/sched.h Mon Aug 19 11:57:06 2002
@@ -270,6 +270,7 @@
unsigned int time_slice, first_time_slice;
struct list_head tasks;
+ struct list_head ptrace_list;
struct mm_struct *mm, *active_mm;
struct list_head local_pages;
--- linux/include/linux/mm.h.orig Mon Aug 19 11:57:25 2002
+++ linux/include/linux/mm.h Mon Aug 19 12:16:24 2002
@@ -354,12 +354,6 @@
extern int handle_mm_fault(struct mm_struct *mm,struct vm_area_struct *vma, unsigned long address, int write_access);
extern int make_pages_present(unsigned long addr, unsigned long end);
extern int access_process_vm(struct task_struct *tsk, unsigned long addr, void *buf, int len, int write);
-extern int ptrace_readdata(struct task_struct *tsk, unsigned long src, char *dst, int len);
-extern int ptrace_writedata(struct task_struct *tsk, char * src, unsigned long dst, int len);
-extern int ptrace_attach(struct task_struct *tsk);
-extern int ptrace_detach(struct task_struct *, unsigned int);
-extern void ptrace_disable(struct task_struct *);
-extern int ptrace_check_attach(struct task_struct *task, int kill);
int get_user_pages(struct task_struct *tsk, struct mm_struct *mm, unsigned long start,
int len, int write, int force, struct page **pages, struct vm_area_struct **vmas);
--- linux/include/linux/ptrace.h.orig Mon Aug 19 12:08:30 2002
+++ linux/include/linux/ptrace.h Mon Aug 19 12:37:12 2002
@@ -23,4 +23,28 @@
#include <asm/ptrace.h>
+#ifdef __KERNEL__
+extern list_t ptrace_tasks;
+
+extern int ptrace_readdata(struct task_struct *tsk, unsigned long src, char *dst, int len);
+extern int ptrace_writedata(struct task_struct *tsk, char * src, unsigned long dst, int len);
+extern int ptrace_attach(struct task_struct *tsk);
+extern int ptrace_detach(struct task_struct *, unsigned int);
+extern void ptrace_disable(struct task_struct *);
+extern int ptrace_check_attach(struct task_struct *task, int kill);
+extern void __ptrace_link(struct task_struct *child, struct task_struct *new_parent);
+extern void __ptrace_unlink(struct task_struct *child);
+
+static inline void ptrace_link(struct task_struct *child, struct task_struct *new_parent)
+{
+ if (child->ptrace)
+ __ptrace_link(child, new_parent);
+}
+static inline void ptrace_unlink(struct task_struct *child)
+{
+ if (child->ptrace)
+ __ptrace_unlink(child);
+}
+#endif
+
#endif
--- linux/include/linux/binfmts.h.orig Mon Aug 19 12:19:45 2002
+++ linux/include/linux/binfmts.h Mon Aug 19 12:20:30 2002
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
#ifndef _LINUX_BINFMTS_H
#define _LINUX_BINFMTS_H
-#include <linux/ptrace.h>
#include <linux/capability.h>
/*
--- linux/include/linux/elfcore.h.orig Mon Aug 19 12:22:38 2002
+++ linux/include/linux/elfcore.h Mon Aug 19 12:22:41 2002
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
#include <linux/types.h>
#include <linux/signal.h>
#include <linux/time.h>
-#include <linux/ptrace.h>
#include <linux/user.h>
struct elf_siginfo
--- linux/include/asm-i386/smp.h.orig Mon Aug 19 12:12:27 2002
+++ linux/include/asm-i386/smp.h Mon Aug 19 12:12:32 2002
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
#ifndef __ASSEMBLY__
#include <linux/config.h>
#include <linux/threads.h>
-#include <linux/ptrace.h>
#endif
#ifdef CONFIG_X86_LOCAL_APIC
--- linux/include/asm-i386/user.h.orig Mon Aug 19 12:22:19 2002
+++ linux/include/asm-i386/user.h Mon Aug 19 12:22:21 2002
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
#define _I386_USER_H
#include <asm/page.h>
-#include <linux/ptrace.h>
/* Core file format: The core file is written in such a way that gdb
can understand it and provide useful information to the user (under
linux we use the 'trad-core' bfd). There are quite a number of
--- linux/kernel/exit.c.orig Mon Aug 19 11:45:38 2002
+++ linux/kernel/exit.c Mon Aug 19 12:40:51 2002
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
#include <linux/acct.h>
#include <linux/file.h>
#include <linux/binfmts.h>
+#include <linux/ptrace.h>
#include <asm/uaccess.h>
#include <asm/pgtable.h>
@@ -65,6 +66,8 @@
atomic_dec(&p->user->processes);
security_ops->task_free_security(p);
free_uid(p->user);
+ if (p->ptrace || !list_empty(&p->ptrace_list))
+ BUG();
unhash_process(p);
release_thread(p);
@@ -177,6 +180,7 @@
{
write_lock_irq(&tasklist_lock);
+ ptrace_unlink(current);
/* Reparent to init */
REMOVE_LINKS(current);
current->parent = child_reaper;
@@ -231,6 +235,22 @@
atomic_inc(¤t->files->count);
}
+static void reparent_thread(task_t *p, task_t *reaper, task_t *child_reaper)
+{
+ /* We dont want people slaying init */
+ p->exit_signal = SIGCHLD;
+ p->self_exec_id++;
+
+ /* Make sure we're not reparenting to ourselves */
+ if (p == reaper)
+ p->real_parent = child_reaper;
+ else
+ p->real_parent = reaper;
+
+ if (p->pdeath_signal)
+ send_sig(p->pdeath_signal, p, 0);
+}
+
/*
* When we die, we re-parent all our children.
* Try to give them to another thread in our thread
@@ -239,7 +259,8 @@
*/
static inline void forget_original_parent(struct task_struct * father)
{
- struct task_struct * p, *reaper;
+ struct task_struct *p, *reaper;
+ list_t *_p;
read_lock(&tasklist_lock);
@@ -254,20 +275,22 @@
if (reaper == father)
reaper = child_reaper;
- for_each_task(p) {
- if (p->real_parent == father) {
- /* We dont want people slaying init */
- p->exit_signal = SIGCHLD;
- p->self_exec_id++;
-
- /* Make sure we're not reparenting to ourselves */
- if (p == reaper)
- p->real_parent = child_reaper;
- else
- p->real_parent = reaper;
-
- if (p->pdeath_signal) send_sig(p->pdeath_signal, p, 0);
- }
+ /*
+ * There are only two places where our children can be:
+ *
+ * - in our child list
+ * - in the global ptrace list
+ *
+ * Search them and reparent children.
+ */
+ list_for_each(_p, &father->children) {
+ p = list_entry(_p,struct task_struct,sibling);
+ reparent_thread(p, reaper, child_reaper);
+ }
+ list_for_each(_p, &ptrace_tasks) {
+ p = list_entry(_p,struct task_struct,ptrace_list);
+ if (p->real_parent == father)
+ reparent_thread(p, reaper, child_reaper);
}
read_unlock(&tasklist_lock);
}
@@ -485,11 +508,12 @@
if (current->exit_signal != -1)
do_notify_parent(current, current->exit_signal);
while ((p = eldest_child(current))) {
+ ptrace_unlink(p);
list_del_init(&p->sibling);
p->ptrace = 0;
p->parent = p->real_parent;
- list_add_tail(&p->sibling,&p->parent->children);
+ list_add_tail(&p->sibling, &p->parent->children);
if (p->state == TASK_ZOMBIE && p->exit_signal != -1)
do_notify_parent(p, p->exit_signal);
/*
@@ -623,6 +647,12 @@
if (p->pgrp != -pid)
continue;
}
+ /*
+ * Do not consider detached threads that are
+ * not ptraced:
+ */
+ if (p->exit_signal == -1 && !p->ptrace)
+ continue;
/* Wait for all children (clone and not) if __WALL is set;
* otherwise, wait for clone children *only* if __WCLONE is
* set; otherwise, wait for non-clone children *only*. (Note:
@@ -667,7 +697,7 @@
if (retval)
goto end_wait4;
retval = p->pid;
- if (p->real_parent != p->parent) {
+ if (p->real_parent != p->parent || p->ptrace) {
write_lock_irq(&tasklist_lock);
remove_parent(p);
p->parent = p->real_parent;
--- linux/kernel/fork.c.orig Mon Aug 19 11:53:22 2002
+++ linux/kernel/fork.c Mon Aug 19 12:20:54 2002
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
#include <linux/fs.h>
#include <linux/security.h>
#include <linux/futex.h>
+#include <linux/ptrace.h>
#include <asm/pgtable.h>
#include <asm/pgalloc.h>
@@ -808,6 +809,7 @@
*/
p->tgid = p->pid;
INIT_LIST_HEAD(&p->thread_group);
+ INIT_LIST_HEAD(&p->ptrace_list);
/* Need tasklist lock for parent etc handling! */
write_lock_irq(&tasklist_lock);
@@ -827,6 +829,7 @@
}
SET_LINKS(p);
+ ptrace_link(p, p->parent);
hash_pid(p);
nr_threads++;
write_unlock_irq(&tasklist_lock);
--- linux/kernel/ptrace.c.orig Mon Aug 19 11:58:06 2002
+++ linux/kernel/ptrace.c Mon Aug 19 13:29:53 2002
@@ -13,11 +13,56 @@
#include <linux/highmem.h>
#include <linux/pagemap.h>
#include <linux/smp_lock.h>
+#include <linux/ptrace.h>
#include <asm/pgtable.h>
#include <asm/uaccess.h>
/*
+ * This is the global list of ptraced threads.
+ *
+ * Any code that wants to iterate over its ->children list has to
+ * search this list as well, because sys_ptrace() temporarily reparents
+ * tasks to the debugging task.
+ */
+LIST_HEAD(ptrace_tasks);
+
+/*
+ * ptrace a task: make the debugger its new parent and
+ * move it to the ptrace list.
+ *
+ * Must be called with the tasklist lock write-held.
+ */
+void __ptrace_link(task_t *child, task_t *new_parent)
+{
+ if (!list_empty(&child->ptrace_list))
+ BUG();
+ list_add(&child->ptrace_list, &ptrace_tasks);
+ REMOVE_LINKS(child);
+ child->parent = new_parent;
+ SET_LINKS(child);
+}
+
+/*
+ * unptrace a task: move it back to its original parent and
+ * remove it from the ptrace list.
+ *
+ * Must be called with the tasklist lock write-held.
+ */
+void __ptrace_unlink(task_t *child)
+{
+ if (!child->ptrace)
+ BUG();
+ child->ptrace = 0;
+ if (list_empty(&child->ptrace_list))
+ return;
+ list_del_init(&child->ptrace_list);
+ REMOVE_LINKS(child);
+ child->parent = child->real_parent;
+ SET_LINKS(child);
+}
+
+/*
* Check that we have indeed attached to the thing..
*/
int ptrace_check_attach(struct task_struct *child, int kill)
@@ -75,11 +120,7 @@
task_unlock(task);
write_lock_irq(&tasklist_lock);
- if (task->parent != current) {
- REMOVE_LINKS(task);
- task->parent = current;
- SET_LINKS(task);
- }
+ __ptrace_link(task, current);
write_unlock_irq(&tasklist_lock);
send_sig(SIGSTOP, task, 1);
@@ -99,16 +140,15 @@
ptrace_disable(child);
/* .. re-parent .. */
- child->ptrace = 0;
child->exit_code = data;
+
write_lock_irq(&tasklist_lock);
- REMOVE_LINKS(child);
- child->parent = child->real_parent;
- SET_LINKS(child);
+ __ptrace_unlink(child);
+ /* .. and wake it up. */
+ if (child->state != TASK_ZOMBIE)
+ wake_up_process(child);
write_unlock_irq(&tasklist_lock);
- /* .. and wake it up. */
- wake_up_process(child);
return 0;
}
-
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