Re: [PATCH v3] tools/memory-model: Make ppo a subrelation of po

From: Boqun Feng
Date: Sat Feb 25 2023 - 22:10:07 EST


On Sat, Feb 25, 2023 at 09:29:51PM -0500, Alan Stern wrote:
> On Sat, Feb 25, 2023 at 05:01:10PM -0800, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> > A few other oddities:
> >
> > litmus/auto/C-LB-Lww+R-OC.litmus
> >
> > Both versions flag a data race, which I am not seeing. It appears
> > to me that P1's store to u0 cannot happen unless P0's store
> > has completed. So what am I missing here?
>
> The LKMM doesn't believe that a control or data dependency orders a
> plain write after a marked read. Hence in this test it thinks that P1's
> store to u0 can happen before the load of x1. I don't remember why we
> did it this way -- probably we just wanted to minimize the restrictions
> on when plain accesses can execute. (I do remember the reason for
> making address dependencies induce order; it was so RCU would work.)
>

Because plain store can be optimzed as an "store only if not equal"?
As the following sentenses in the explanations.txt:

The need to distinguish between r- and w-bounding raises yet another
issue. When the source code contains a plain store, the compiler is
allowed to put plain loads of the same location into the object code.
For example, given the source code:

x = 1;

the compiler is theoretically allowed to generate object code that
looks like:

if (x != 1)
x = 1;

thereby adding a load (and possibly replacing the store entirely).
For this reason, whenever the LKMM requires a plain store to be
w-pre-bounded or w-post-bounded by a marked access, it also requires
the store to be r-pre-bounded or r-post-bounded, so as to handle cases
where the compiler adds a load.

Regards,
Boqun

> The patch below will change what the LKMM believes. It eliminates the
> positive outcome of the litmus test and the data race. Should it be
> adopted into the memory model?
>
> > litmus/auto/C-LB-Lrw+R-OC.litmus
> > litmus/auto/C-LB-Lww+R-Oc.litmus
> > litmus/auto/C-LB-Lrw+R-Oc.litmus
> > litmus/auto/C-LB-Lrw+R-A+R-Oc.litmus
> > litmus/auto/C-LB-Lww+R-A+R-OC.litmus
> >
> > Ditto. (There are likely more.)
>
> I haven't looked at these but they're probably similar.
>
> Alan
>
>
>
> --- usb-devel.orig/tools/memory-model/linux-kernel.cat
> +++ usb-devel/tools/memory-model/linux-kernel.cat
> @@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ let vis = cumul-fence* ; rfe? ; [Marked]
> ((strong-fence ; [Marked] ; xbstar) | (xbstar & int))
>
> (* Boundaries for lifetimes of plain accesses *)
> -let w-pre-bounded = [Marked] ; (addr | fence)?
> +let w-pre-bounded = [Marked] ; (rwdep | fence)?
> let r-pre-bounded = [Marked] ; (addr | nonrw-fence |
> ([R4rmb] ; fencerel(Rmb) ; [~Noreturn]))?
> let w-post-bounded = fence? ; [Marked] ; rmw-sequence