Re: [PATCH v2] net: af_packet: Use hrtimer to do the retire operation

[Willem de Bruijn <willemdebruijn.kernel@gmail.com>]

Xin Zhao wrote:
> On Fri, 2025-08-15 at 18:12 +0800, Willem wrote:
> 
> > Signed-off-by: Xin Zhao <jackzxcui1989@163.com>
> 
> > Please clearly label PATCH net-next and include a changelog and link
> > to previous versions.
> > 
> > See also other recently sent patches and
> > https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/maintainer-netdev.html
> > https://docs.kernel.org/process/submitting-patches.html
> > 
> > > ---
> 
> Dear Willem,
> 
> I will add the details in PATCH v3.
> 
> 
> > > -	p1->tov_in_jiffies = msecs_to_jiffies(p1->retire_blk_tov);
> > 
> > Since the hrtimer API takes ktime, and there is no other user for
> > retire_blk_tov, remove that too and instead have interval_ktime.
> > 
> > >  	p1->blk_sizeof_priv = req_u->req3.tp_sizeof_priv;
> 
> We cannot simply remove the retire_blk_tov field, because in net/packet/diag.c 
> retire_blk_tov is being used in function pdiag_put_ring. Since there are still
> people using it, I personally prefer not to remove this variable for now. If
> you think it is still necessary, I can remove it later and adjust the logic in
> diag.c accordingly, using ktime_to_ms to convert the ktime_t format value back
> to the u32 type needed in the pdiag_put_ring function.

Yes, let's remove the unnecessary extra field.
 
> 
> > > +	hrtimer_set_expires(&pkc->retire_blk_timer,
> > > +			    ktime_add(ktime_get(), ms_to_ktime(pkc->retire_blk_tov)));
> > 
> > More common for HRTIMER_RESTART timers is hrtimer_forward_now.
> > 
> > >  	pkc->last_kactive_blk_num = pkc->kactive_blk_num;
> 
> As I mentioned in my previous response, we cannot use hrtimer_forward_now here
> because the function _prb_refresh_rx_retire_blk_timer can be called not only
> when the retire timer expires, but also when the kernel logic for receiving
> network packets detects that a network packet has filled up a block and calls
> prb_open_block to use the next block. This can lead to a WARN_ON being triggered
> in hrtimer_forward_now when it checks if the timer has already been enqueued
> (WARN_ON(timer->state & HRTIMER_STATE_ENQUEUED)).
> I encountered this issue when I initially used hrtimer_forward_now. This is the
> reason why the existing logic for the regular timer uses mod_timer instead of
> add_timer, as mod_timer is designed to handle such scenarios. A relevant comment
> in the mod_timer implementation states:
>  * Note that if there are multiple unserialized concurrent users of the
>  * same timer, then mod_timer() is the only safe way to modify the timeout,
>  * since add_timer() cannot modify an already running timer.

Please add a comment above the call to hrtimer_set_expires and/or in
the commit message. As this is non-obvious and someone may easily
later miss that and update.

So mod_timer can also work as add_timer.

But for hrtimer, is it safe for an hrtimer_setup call to run while a
timer is already queued? And same for hrtimer_start.

> 
> > > +static enum hrtimer_restart prb_retire_rx_blk_timer_expired(struct hrtimer *t)
> > >  {
> > >  	struct packet_sock *po =
> > >  		timer_container_of(po, t, rx_ring.prb_bdqc.retire_blk_timer);
> > > @@ -790,6 +790,7 @@ static void prb_retire_rx_blk_timer_expired(struct timer_list *t)
> > > 
> > >  out:
> > >  	spin_unlock(&po->sk.sk_receive_queue.lock);
> > > +	return HRTIMER_RESTART;
> > 
> > This always restart the timer. But that is not the current behavior.
> > Per prb_retire_rx_blk_timer_expired:
> > 
> >    * 1) We refresh the timer only when we open a block.
> > 
> > Look at the five different paths that can reach label out.
> > 
> > In particular, if the block is retired in this timer, and no new block
> > is available to be opened, no timer should be armed.
> > 
> > >  }
> 
> I have sorted out the logic in this area; please take a look and see if it's correct.
> 
> We are discussing the conditions under which we should return HRTIMER_NORESTART. We only
> need to focus on the three 'goto out' statements in this function (because if it don't
> call 'goto out', it will definitely not skip the 'refresh_timer:' label, and if it don't
> skip the refresh_timer label, it will definitely execute the _prb_refresh_rx_retire_blk_timer
> function, which expects to return HRTIMER_RESTART):
> Case 1:
>   if (unlikely(pkc->delete_blk_timer))
>     goto out;
>   This case indicates that the hrtimer has already been stopped. In this situation, it 
>   should return HRTIMER_NORESTART, and I will make this change in PATCH v3.
> Case 2:
>   if (!prb_dispatch_next_block(pkc, po))
>     goto refresh_timer;
>   else
>     goto out;
>   In this case, the execution will only reach the out label if prb_dispatch_next_block
>   returns a non-zero value. If prb_dispatch_next_block returns a non-zero value, it must
>   have executed prb_open_block, which in turn will call _prb_refresh_rx_retire_blk_timer
>   to set the new timeout for the retire timer. Therefore, in this scenario, the hrtimer
>   should return HRTIMER_RESTART.

Above I am talking about this case, where the hrtimer is reinitialized
and started in _prb_refresh_rx_retire_blk_timer and after that also
restarts itself with HRTIMER_RESTART.

> Case 3:
>   } else {
>      ...
>      prb_open_block(pkc, pbd);
>      goto out;
>   }
>   This goto out clearly follows a call to prb_open_block, and as mentioned in the case 2,
>   it will set a new timeout and expects the hrtimer to restart.
> Based on the analysis above, I only need to modify the situation described in case 1 in
> PATCH v3 to return HRTIMER_NORESTART. If there are any inaccuracies, please provide
> further guidance.
> 
> 
> Thanks
> Xin Zhao
>