Re: [PATCH v5 1/2] printk: Add console owner and waiter logic to load balance console writes

From: Byungchul Park
Date: Wed Jan 17 2018 - 02:34:23 EST


On 1/17/2018 11:19 AM, Byungchul Park wrote:
On 1/10/2018 10:24 PM, Petr Mladek wrote:
From: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>

From: Steven Rostedt (VMware) <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>

This patch implements what I discussed in Kernel Summit. I added
lockdep annotation (hopefully correctly), and it hasn't had any splats
(since I fixed some bugs in the first iterations). It did catch
problems when I had the owner covering too much. But now that the owner
is only set when actively calling the consoles, lockdep has stayed
quiet.

Here's the design again:

I added a "console_owner" which is set to a task that is actively
writing to the consoles. It is *not* the same as the owner of the
console_lock. It is only set when doing the calls to the console
functions. It is protected by a console_owner_lock which is a raw spin
lock.

There is a console_waiter. This is set when there is an active console
owner that is not current, and waiter is not set. This too is protected
by console_owner_lock.

In printk() when it tries to write to the consoles, we have:

ÂÂÂÂif (console_trylock())
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ console_unlock();

Now I added an else, which will check if there is an active owner, and
no current waiter. If that is the case, then console_waiter is set, and
the task goes into a spin until it is no longer set.

When the active console owner finishes writing the current message to
the consoles, it grabs the console_owner_lock and sees if there is a
waiter, and clears console_owner.

If there is a waiter, then it breaks out of the loop, clears the waiter
flag (because that will release the waiter from its spin), and exits.
Note, it does *not* release the console semaphore. Because it is a
semaphore, there is no owner. Another task may release it. This means
that the waiter is guaranteed to be the new console owner! Which it
becomes.

Then the waiter calls console_unlock() and continues to write to the
consoles.

If another task comes along and does a printk() it too can become the
new waiter, and we wash rinse and repeat!

By Petr Mladek about possible new deadlocks:

The thing is that we move console_sem only to printk() call
that normally calls console_unlock() as well. It means that
the transferred owner should not bring new type of dependencies.
As Steven said somewhere: "If there is a deadlock, it was
there even before."

We could look at it from this side. The possible deadlock would
look like:

CPU0ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ CPU1

console_unlock()

ÂÂ console_owner = current;

ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ spin_lockA()
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ printk()
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ spin = true;
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ while (...)

ÂÂÂÂ call_console_drivers()
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ spin_lockA()

This would be a deadlock. CPU0 would wait for the lock A.
While CPU1 would own the lockA and would wait for CPU0
to finish calling the console drivers and pass the console_sem
owner.

But if the above is true than the following scenario was
already possible before:

CPU0

spin_lockA()
ÂÂ printk()
ÂÂÂÂ console_unlock()
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ call_console_drivers()
ÂÂÂÂspin_lockA()

By other words, this deadlock was there even before. Such
deadlocks are prevented by using printk_deferred() in
the sections guarded by the lock A.

Hello,

I didn't see what you did, at the last version. You were
tring to transfer the semaphore owner and make it taken
over. I see.

But, what I mentioned last time is still valid. See below.

Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware) <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
[pmladek@xxxxxxxx: Commit message about possible deadlocks]
---
 kernel/printk/printk.c | 108 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 107 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/kernel/printk/printk.c b/kernel/printk/printk.c
index b9006617710f..7e6459abba43 100644
--- a/kernel/printk/printk.c
+++ b/kernel/printk/printk.c
@@ -86,8 +86,15 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(console_drivers);
 static struct lockdep_map console_lock_dep_map = {
ÂÂÂÂÂ .name = "console_lock"
 };
+static struct lockdep_map console_owner_dep_map = {
+ÂÂÂ .name = "console_owner"
+};
 #endif
+static DEFINE_RAW_SPINLOCK(console_owner_lock);
+static struct task_struct *console_owner;
+static bool console_waiter;
+
 enum devkmsg_log_bits {
ÂÂÂÂÂ __DEVKMSG_LOG_BIT_ON = 0,
ÂÂÂÂÂ __DEVKMSG_LOG_BIT_OFF,
@@ -1753,8 +1760,56 @@ asmlinkage int vprintk_emit(int facility, int level,
 * semaphore. The release will print out buffers and wake up
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ * /dev/kmsg and syslog() users.
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ */
-ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ if (console_trylock())
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ if (console_trylock()) {
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ console_unlock();
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ } else {
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ struct task_struct *owner = NULL;
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ bool waiter;
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ bool spin = false;
+
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ printk_safe_enter_irqsave(flags);
+
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ raw_spin_lock(&console_owner_lock);
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ owner = READ_ONCE(console_owner);
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ waiter = READ_ONCE(console_waiter);
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ if (!waiter && owner && owner != current) {
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ WRITE_ONCE(console_waiter, true);
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ spin = true;
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ }
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ raw_spin_unlock(&console_owner_lock);
+
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ /*
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ * If there is an active printk() writing to the
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ * consoles, instead of having it write our data too,
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ * see if we can offload that load from the active
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ * printer, and do some printing ourselves.
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ * Go into a spin only if there isn't already a waiter
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ * spinning, and there is an active printer, and
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ * that active printer isn't us (recursive printk?).
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ */
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ if (spin) {
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ /* We spin waiting for the owner to release us */
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ spin_acquire(&console_owner_dep_map, 0, 0, _THIS_IP_);
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ /* Owner will clear console_waiter on hand off */
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ while (READ_ONCE(console_waiter))
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ cpu_relax();
+
+ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ spin_release(&console_owner_dep_map, 1, _THIS_IP_);

Why don't you move this over "while (READ_ONCE(console_waiter))" and
right after acquire()?

As I said last time, only acquisitions between acquire() and release()
are meaningful. Are you taking care of acquisitions within cpu_relax()?
If so, leave it.

In addition, this way would be correct if you intended to use
cross-lock's map here, assuming cross-release alive..

But anyway this is just a typical acquire/release pair so we
don't usually use the pair in this way.

--
Thanks,
Byungchul