Re: [PATCH] tree/tiny rcu: Add debug RCU head option (v2)

[Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com>]

* Paul E. McKenney (paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com) wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 07:34:07AM -0500, Christoph Lameter wrote:
> > On Fri, 19 Mar 2010, Lai Jiangshan wrote:
> > 
> > > but SLUB opposed me, so I did not post it.
> > >
> > > @ slub.c
> > > static void free_slab(struct kmem_cache *s, struct page *page)
> > > {
> > > 	if (unlikely(s->flags & SLAB_DESTROY_BY_RCU)) {
> > > 		/*
> > > 		 * RCU free overloads the RCU head over the LRU
> > > 		 */
> > > 		struct rcu_head *head = (void *)&page->lru;
> > >
> > > 		call_rcu(head, rcu_free_slab);
> > > 	} else
> > > 		__free_slab(s, page);
> > > }
> > >
> > > I think it is not your patch's fault, but the above code has
> > > already existed.
> > >
> > > In your patch, struct rcu_head::debug will share the same memory of
> > > the other field of struct page, (especially share the struct page::flags
> > > which I encountered)
> > 
> > Right. I like the smallness of the RCU structure but if you must
> > increase its size then we could:
> > 
> > A) put the rcu structure at the end of each page like SLOB
> >    but that will take away memory that could be used by objects.
> > 
> > B) Move the rcu object up by a word so that it overloads the index field
> >    in the page struct. That would give another exact fit but will cause
> >    trouble again if you bloat the structure some more.
> 
> The size increase is strictly under a debug option -- the non-debug
> size remains the same as always.  And I expect that in the longer term,
> we will be able to shrink the size back down even with this debug option
> available.
> 
> One question: do any of the other allocators care about the size of the
> struct rcu_head?  If not, a temporary work-around would be to simply
> prohibit use of this debug option when running with SLUB.
> 
> 							Thanx, Paul

Don't worry about the struct rcu_head size too much. I'm currently working on a
debugobjects implementation. I should have something by the end of the day.

Thanks,

Mathieu


-- 
Mathieu Desnoyers
Operating System Efficiency R&D Consultant
EfficiOS Inc.
http://www.efficios.com