From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Message-ID: <45DC139A.6020302@domain.hid> Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 10:40:42 +0100 From: Gilles Chanteperdrix MIME-Version: 1.0 Subject: Re: [Xenomai-core] Enhanced RTDM device closure References: <45DC0623.3080706@domain.hid> <45DC0939.6070207@domain.hid> <45DC0CAA.2050001@domain.hid> In-Reply-To: <45DC0CAA.2050001@domain.hid> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit List-Id: "Xenomai life and development \(bug reports, patches, discussions\)" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , To: Jan Kiszka Cc: xenomai-core Jan Kiszka wrote: > Gilles Chanteperdrix wrote: > >>Jan Kiszka wrote: >> >>>Hi, >>> >>>a few changes of the RTDM layer were committed to trunk recently. They >>>make handling of RTDM file descriptors more handy: >>> >>> o rt_dev_close/POSIX-close now polls as long as the underlying device >>> reports -EAGAIN. No more looping inside the application is required. >>> This applies to the usual non-RT invocation of close, the corner >>> case "close from RT context" can still return EAGAIN. >>> >>> o Automatic cleanup of open file descriptors has been implemented. This >>> is not yet the perfect design (*), but a straightforward approach to >>> ease the cleanup after application crashes or other unexpected >>> terminations. >>> >>>The code is still young, so testers are welcome. >>> >>>Jan >>> >>> >>>(*) Actually, I would like to see generic per-process file descriptor >>>tables one day, used by both the POSIX and the RTDM skin. The FD table >>>should be obtained via xnshadow_ppd_get(). >> >>I agree for the file descriptor table, but I do not see why it should be >>bound to xnshadow_ppd_get. The file descriptor table could be >>implemented in an object like fashion, where the caller is responsible >>to pass the same pointer to the creation, use and desctruction routines. > > > But where to get this pointer from when I enter, say, rtdm_ioctl on > behalf of some process? The caller just passes an integer, the file > descriptor. Yes, the pointer would be obtained via xnshadow_ppd_get, but it does not have to be built-in the nucleus, this can be done by the skins. > > >>This would allow, for example, to have a descriptor table for >>kernel-space threads. Another feature that would be interesting for the > > > I don't see the need to offer kernel threads private fd tables. They can > perfectly continue to use a common, then kernel-only table. There are > too few of those threads, and there is no clear concept of a process > boundary in kernel space. I mean having one descriptor table for the kernel space as a whole, but the kernel space descriptor table does not have to be of a different type from the user-space descriptor tables. > > >>posix skin would be to have a callback called at process fork time in >>order to duplicate the fd table. > > > Ack. IIRC, this callback could also serve to solve the only consistency > issue of the ipipe_get_ptd() approach. > > >> >> But first this requires >> >>>lock-less xnshadow_ppd_get() based on ipipe_get_ptd() to keep the >>>overhead limited. Yet another story. >> >>xnshadow_ppd_get is already lockless, usual callers have to hold the >>nklock for other reasons anyway. >> > > > OK, depends on the POV :). Mine is that the related RTDM services do not > hold nklock and will never have to. Moreover, there is no need for > locking design-wise, because per-process data cannot vanish under the > caller unless the caller vanishes. The need currently only comes from > the hashing-based lookup (reminds me of the WCET issues kernel futexes > have...). I have to have a closer look at the code. But you are right, since the ppd cannot vanish under our feet, maybe is it possible to call xnshadow_ppd_get without holding the nklock at all. We "only" have to suppose that the lists manipulation routines will never set the list to an inconsistent state. Something else that I would like is that the fd table be bound to the nucleus registry. This would allow to factor the registry implementation. -- Gilles Chanteperdrix