Re: [PATCH] Linux: Implement membarrier function

["Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.ibm.com>]

On Wed, Dec 12, 2018 at 04:32:50PM -0500, Alan Stern wrote:
> On Wed, 12 Dec 2018, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> 
> > OK.  How about this one?
> > 
> >          P0      P1                 P2      P3
> >          Wa=2    rcu_read_lock()    Wc=2    Wd=2
> >          memb    Wb=2               Rd=0    synchronize_rcu();
> >          Rb=0    Rc=0                       Ra=0
> > 	         rcu_read_unlock()
> > 
> > The model should say that it is allowed.  Taking a look...
> > 
> >          P0      P1                 P2      P3
> > 				    Rd=0
> > 					    Wd=2
> > 					    synchronize_rcu();
> > 	                                    Ra=0
> > 	 Wa=2
> > 	 membs
> > 	         rcu_read_lock()
> > 		 [m01]
> > 		 Rc=0
> > 		 		    Wc=2
> > 				    [m02]   [m03]
> > 	 membe
> > 	 Rb=0
> > 	         Wb=2
> > 		 rcu_read_unlock()
> > 
> > Looks allowed to me.  If the synchronization of P1 and P2 were
> > interchanged, it should be forbidden:
> > 
> >          P0      P1      P2                 P3
> >          Wa=2    Wb=2    rcu_read_lock()    Wd=2
> >          memb    Rc=0    Wc=2               synchronize_rcu();
> >          Rb=0            Rd=0               Ra=0
> >                          rcu_read_unlock()
> > 
> > Taking a look...
> > 
> >          P0      P1      P2                 P3
> >                          rcu_read_lock()
> >                          Rd=0
> >          Wa=2    Wb=2                       Wd=2
> >          membs                              synchronize_rcu();
> >                  [m01]
> >                  Rc=0
> >                          Wc=2
> >                          rcu_read_unlock()
> > 			 [m02]              Ra=0 [Forbidden?]
> > 	 membe
> >          Rb=0

For one thing, Wb=2 needs to be down here, apologies!  Which then ...

> Have you tried writing these as real litmus tests and running them 
> through herd?

That comes later, but yes, I will do that.

> > I believe that this ordering forbids the cycle:
> > 
> > 	Wa=1 > membs -> [m01] -> Rc=0 -> Wc=2 -> rcu_read_unlock() ->
> > 		return from synchronize_rcu() -> Ra
> > 
> > Does this make sense, or am I missing something?
> 
> It's hard to tell.  What you have written here isn't justified by the
> litmus test source code, since the position of m01 in P1's program
> order is undetermined.  How do you justify m01 -> Rc, for example?

... justifies Rc=0 following [m01].

> Write it this way instead, using the relations defined in the 
> sys_membarrier patch for linux-kernel.cat:
> 
> 	memb ->memb-gp memb ->rcu-link Rc ->memb-rscsi Rc ->rcu-link
> 		
> 		rcu_read_unlock ->rcu-rscsi rcu_read_lock ->rcu-link 
> 
> 		synchronize_rcu ->rcu-gp synchronize_rcu ->rcu-link memb
> 
> Recall that:
> 
> 	memb-gp is the identity relation on sys_membarrier events,
> 
> 	rcu-link includes (po? ; fre ; po),
> 
> 	memb-rscsi is the identity relation on all events,
> 
> 	rcu-rscsi links unlocks to their corresponding locks, and
> 
> 	rcu-gp is the identity relation on synchronize_rcu events.
> 
> These facts justify the cycle above.
> 
> Leaving off the final rcu-link step, the sequence matches the
> definition of rcu-fence (the relations are memb-gp, memb-rscsi, 
> rcu-rscsi, rcu-gp with rcu-links in between).  Therefore the cycle is 
> forbidden.

Understood, but that would be using the model to check the model.  ;-)

							Thanx, Paul