Re: high overhead of functions blkg_*stats_* in bfq

[Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>]

Hello, Paolo.

On Thu, Oct 19, 2017 at 08:50:17AM +0200, Paolo Valente wrote:
> The blkg obtained through a blkg_lookup, in a rcu_read section, is
> protected.  But, outside that section, a pointer to that blkg is not
> guaranteed to be valid any longer.  Stat-update functions seem safe in

blkg's destruction is rcu delayed.  If you have access to a blkg under
rcu, it won't get freed until the rcu read lock is released.

> cfq and bfq, just because they are executed within locks that happen
> to be taken also before destroying the blkg.  They are the
> request_queue lock for cfq and the scheduler lock for bfq.  Thus, at
> least the request_queue lock apparently needs to be taken around
> stat-update functions in bfq, if they are moved outside the section
> protected by the scheduler lock.

So, a blkg stays alive if the queue lock is held, or the cgroup and
request_queue stays alive, and won't be freed (different from being
alive) as long as RCU read lock is held.

Thanks.

-- 
tejun