Re: [PATCH v4 03/11] mm: memcontrol: make lruvec lock safe when LRU pages are reparented

From: Waiman Long
Date: Thu May 26 2022 - 16:17:39 EST


On 5/25/22 11:38, Muchun Song wrote:
On Wed, May 25, 2022 at 10:48:54AM -0400, Johannes Weiner wrote:
On Wed, May 25, 2022 at 09:03:59PM +0800, Muchun Song wrote:
On Wed, May 25, 2022 at 08:30:15AM -0400, Johannes Weiner wrote:
On Wed, May 25, 2022 at 05:53:30PM +0800, Muchun Song wrote:
On Tue, May 24, 2022 at 03:27:20PM -0400, Johannes Weiner wrote:
On Tue, May 24, 2022 at 02:05:43PM +0800, Muchun Song wrote:
@@ -1230,10 +1213,23 @@ void lruvec_memcg_debug(struct lruvec *lruvec, struct folio *folio)
*/
struct lruvec *folio_lruvec_lock(struct folio *folio)
{
- struct lruvec *lruvec = folio_lruvec(folio);
+ struct lruvec *lruvec;
+ rcu_read_lock();
+retry:
+ lruvec = folio_lruvec(folio);
spin_lock(&lruvec->lru_lock);
- lruvec_memcg_debug(lruvec, folio);
+
+ if (unlikely(lruvec_memcg(lruvec) != folio_memcg(folio))) {
+ spin_unlock(&lruvec->lru_lock);
+ goto retry;
+ }
+
+ /*
+ * Preemption is disabled in the internal of spin_lock, which can serve
+ * as RCU read-side critical sections.
+ */
+ rcu_read_unlock();
The code looks right to me, but I don't understand the comment: why do
we care that the rcu read-side continues? With the lru_lock held,
reparenting is on hold and the lruvec cannot be rcu-freed anyway, no?

Right. We could hold rcu read lock until end of reparting. So you mean
we do rcu_read_unlock in folio_lruvec_lock()?
The comment seems to suggest that disabling preemption is what keeps
the lruvec alive. But it's the lru_lock that keeps it alive. The
cgroup destruction path tries to take the lru_lock long before it even
gets to synchronize_rcu(). Once you hold the lru_lock, having an
implied read-side critical section as well doesn't seem to matter.

Well, I thought that spinlocks have implicit read-side critical sections
because it disables preemption (I learned from the comments above
synchronize_rcu() that says interrupts, preemption, or softirqs have been
disabled also serve as RCU read-side critical sections). So I have a
question: is it still true in a PREEMPT_RT kernel (I am not familiar with
this)?
Yes, but you're missing my point.

Should the comment be deleted?
I think we could remove the comments. If the above question is false, seems
like we should continue holding rcu read lock.
It's true.

Thanks for your answer.

But assume it's false for a second. Why would you need to continue
holding it? What would it protect? The lruvec would be pinned by the
spinlock even if it DIDN'T imply an RCU lock, right?

So I don't understand the point of the comment. If the implied RCU
lock is protecting something not covered by the bare spinlock itself,
it should be added to the comment. Otherwise, the comment should go.

Got it. Thanks for your nice explanation. I'll remove
the comment here.

Note that there is a similar comment in patch 6 which may have to be removed as well.

Cheers,
Longman