Re: [PATCH] fix rcu vs hotplug race

From: Ingo Molnar
Date: Tue Jul 01 2008 - 04:34:52 EST



* Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> ------WINDOW DURING WHICH rcp->cpumask is stale ---------------
> . call_rcu();
> . /* disables irqs here */
> . .force_quiescent_state();
> .CPU_DEAD: .for_each_cpu(rcp->cpumask)
> . . smp_send_reschedule();
> . .
> . . WARN_ON() for offlined CPU!
> --

hm, for some reason the "-- WINDOW ENDS" line has cut off processing
somewhere along the mail route. Here it is again, with that line
removed.

----------->
commit 8558f8f81680a43d383abd1b5f23d3501fedfa65
Author: Gautham R Shenoy <ego@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri Jun 27 10:17:38 2008 +0530

rcu: fix hotplug vs rcu race

Dhaval Giani reported this warning during cpu hotplug stress-tests:

| On running kernel compiles in parallel with cpu hotplug:
|
| WARNING: at arch/x86/kernel/smp.c:118
| native_smp_send_reschedule+0x21/0x36()
| Modules linked in:
| Pid: 27483, comm: cc1 Not tainted 2.6.26-rc7 #1
| [...]
| [<c0110355>] native_smp_send_reschedule+0x21/0x36
| [<c014fe8f>] force_quiescent_state+0x47/0x57
| [<c014fef0>] call_rcu+0x51/0x6d
| [<c01713b3>] __fput+0x130/0x158
| [<c0171231>] fput+0x17/0x19
| [<c016fd99>] filp_close+0x4d/0x57
| [<c016fdff>] sys_close+0x5c/0x97

IMHO the warning is a spurious one.

cpu_online_map is updated by the _cpu_down() using stop_machine_run().
Since force_quiescent_state is invoked from irqs disabled section,
stop_machine_run() won't be executing while a cpu is executing
force_quiescent_state(). Hence the cpu_online_map is stable while we're
in the irq disabled section.

However, a cpu might have been offlined _just_ before we disabled irqs
while entering force_quiescent_state(). And rcu subsystem might not yet
have handled the CPU_DEAD notification, leading to the offlined cpu's
bit being set in the rcp->cpumask.

Hence cpumask = (rcp->cpumask & cpu_online_map) to prevent sending
smp_reschedule() to an offlined CPU.

Here's the timeline:

CPU_A CPU_B
--------------------------------------------------------------
cpu_down(): .
. .
. .
stop_machine(): /* disables preemption, .
* and irqs */ .
. .
. .
take_cpu_down(); .
. .
. .
. .
cpu_disable(); /*this removes cpu .
*from cpu_online_map .
*/ .
. .
. .
restart_machine(); /* enables irqs */ .
------WINDOW DURING WHICH rcp->cpumask is stale ---------------
. call_rcu();
. /* disables irqs here */
. .force_quiescent_state();
.CPU_DEAD: .for_each_cpu(rcp->cpumask)
. . smp_send_reschedule();
. .
. . WARN_ON() for offlined CPU!
.
.
.
rcu_cpu_notify:
.
[ -- line removed -- ]
rcu_offline_cpu() /* Which calls cpu_quiet()
* which removes
* cpu from rcp->cpumask.
*/

If a new batch was started just before calling stop_machine_run(), the
"tobe-offlined" cpu is still present in rcp-cpumask.

During a cpu-offline, from take_cpu_down(), we queue an rt-prio idle
task as the next task to be picked by the scheduler. We also call
cpu_disable() which will disable any further interrupts and remove the
cpu's bit from the cpu_online_map.

Once the stop_machine_run() successfully calls take_cpu_down(), it calls
schedule(). That's the last time a schedule is called on the offlined
cpu, and hence the last time when rdp->passed_quiesc will be set to 1
through rcu_qsctr_inc().

But the cpu_quiet() will be on this cpu will be called only when the
next RCU_SOFTIRQ occurs on this CPU. So at this time, the offlined CPU
is still set in rcp->cpumask.

Now coming back to the idle_task which truely offlines the CPU, it does
check for a pending RCU and raises the softirq, since it will find
rdp->passed_quiesc to be 0 in this case. However, since the cpu is
offline I am not sure if the softirq will trigger on the CPU.

Even if it doesn't the rcu_offline_cpu() will find that rcp->completed
is not the same as rcp->cur, which means that our cpu could be holding
up the grace period progression. Hence we call cpu_quiet() and move
ahead.

But because of the window explained in the timeline, we could still have
a call_rcu() before the RCU subsystem executes it's CPU_DEAD
notification, and we send smp_send_reschedule() to offlined cpu while
trying to force the quiescent states. The appended patch adds comments
and prevents checking for offlined cpu everytime.

cpu_online_map is updated by the _cpu_down() using stop_machine_run().
Since force_quiescent_state is invoked from irqs disabled section,
stop_machine_run() won't be executing while a cpu is executing
force_quiescent_state(). Hence the cpu_online_map is stable while we're
in the irq disabled section.

Reported-by: Dhaval Giani <dhaval@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Gautham R Shenoy <ego@xxxxxxxxxx>
Acked-by: Dhaval Giani <dhaval@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Dipankar Sarma <dipankar@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: laijs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Rusty Russel <rusty@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxx>

diff --git a/kernel/rcuclassic.c b/kernel/rcuclassic.c
index f4ffbd0..a38895a 100644
--- a/kernel/rcuclassic.c
+++ b/kernel/rcuclassic.c
@@ -89,8 +89,22 @@ static void force_quiescent_state(struct rcu_data *rdp,
/*
* Don't send IPI to itself. With irqs disabled,
* rdp->cpu is the current cpu.
+ *
+ * cpu_online_map is updated by the _cpu_down()
+ * using stop_machine_run(). Since we're in irqs disabled
+ * section, stop_machine_run() is not exectuting, hence
+ * the cpu_online_map is stable.
+ *
+ * However, a cpu might have been offlined _just_ before
+ * we disabled irqs while entering here.
+ * And rcu subsystem might not yet have handled the CPU_DEAD
+ * notification, leading to the offlined cpu's bit
+ * being set in the rcp->cpumask.
+ *
+ * Hence cpumask = (rcp->cpumask & cpu_online_map) to prevent
+ * sending smp_reschedule() to an offlined CPU.
*/
- cpumask = rcp->cpumask;
+ cpus_and(cpumask, rcp->cpumask, cpu_online_map);
cpu_clear(rdp->cpu, cpumask);
for_each_cpu_mask(cpu, cpumask)
smp_send_reschedule(cpu);
--
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