Re: [RFC v3 1/5] sched/core: add capacity constraints to CPU controller

Paul E. McKenney
2017-03-15T16:10:48Z

On Wed, Mar 15, 2017 at 06:20:28AM -0700, Joel Fernandes wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 15, 2017 at 4:20 AM, Patrick Bellasi
> <patrick.bellasi@arm.com> wrote:
> > On 13-Mar 03:46, Joel Fernandes (Google) wrote:
> >> On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 6:38 AM, Patrick Bellasi
> >> <patrick.bellasi@arm.com> wrote:
> >> > The CPU CGroup controller allows to assign a specified (maximum)
> >> > bandwidth to tasks within a group, however it does not enforce any
> >> > constraint on how such bandwidth can be consumed.
> >> > With the integration of schedutil, the scheduler has now the proper
> >> > information about a task to select the most suitable frequency to
> >> > satisfy tasks needs.
> >> [..]
> >>
> >> > +static u64 cpu_capacity_min_read_u64(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css,
> >> > + struct cftype *cft)
> >> > +{
> >> > + struct task_group *tg;
> >> > + u64 min_capacity;
> >> > +
> >> > + rcu_read_lock();
> >> > + tg = css_tg(css);
> >> > + min_capacity = tg->cap_clamp[CAP_CLAMP_MIN];
> >>
> >> Shouldn't the cap_clamp be accessed with READ_ONCE (and WRITE_ONCE in
> >> the write path) to avoid load-tearing?
> >
> > tg->cap_clamp is an "unsigned int" and thus I would expect a single
> > memory access to write/read it, isn't it? I mean: I do not expect the
> > compiler "to mess" with these accesses.
>
> This depends on compiler and arch. I'm not sure if its in practice
> these days an issue, but see section on 'load tearing' in
> Documentation/memory-barriers.txt . If compiler decided to break down
> the access to multiple accesses due to some reason, then might be a
> problem.

The compiler might also be able to inline cpu_capacity_min_read_u64()
fuse the load from tg->cap_clamp[CAP_CLAMP_MIN] with other accesses.
If min_capacity is used several times in the ensuing code, the compiler
could reload multiple times from tg->cap_clamp[CAP_CLAMP_MIN], which at
best might be a bit confusing.

> Adding Paul for his expert opinion on the matter ;)

My personal approach is to use READ_ONCE() and WRITE_ONCE() unless
I can absolutely prove that the compiler cannot do any destructive
optimizations. And I not-infrequently find unsuspected opportunities
for destructive optimization in my own code. Your mileage may vary. ;-)

Thanx, Paul