Re: [Qemu-devel] [RFC v2 3/5] timer: make qemu_clock_enable sync between disable and timer's cb

[Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>]

> > Hmm, do we even need clock->using at this point?  For example:
> >
> >    qemu_clock_enable()
> >    {
> >        clock->enabled = enabled;
> >        ...
> >        if (!enabled) {
> >            /* If another thread is within qemu_run_timers,
> >             * wait for it to finish.
> >             */
> >            qemu_event_wait(&clock->callbacks_done_event);
> >        }
> >    }
> >
> >    qemu_run_timers()
> >    {
> >        qemu_event_reset(&clock->callbacks_done_event);
> >        if (!clock->enabled) {
> >            goto out;
> >        }
> >        ...
> >    out:
> >        qemu_event_set(&eclock->callbacks_done_event);
> >    }
> >
> > In the fast path this only does two atomic operations (an OR for reset,
> > and XCHG for set).
> >
> There is race condition, suppose the following scenario with A/B thread
> A: qemu_event_reset()
> B: qemu_event_reset()
> A: qemu_event_set() ----> B is still in flight when
> qemu_clock_enable() is notified
> B: qemu_event_set()
> 
> I had tried to build something around futex(2) like qemu_event, but failed.

True, qemu_event basically works only when a single thread resets it.  But
there is no race condition here because qemu_run_timers cannot be executed
concurrently by multiple threads (like aio_poll in your bottom half patches).

Paolo