Re: [RFC PATCH 16/22 -v2] add get_monotonic_cycles

Steven Rostedt
2008-01-15T22:01:44Z

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008, Mathieu Desnoyers wrote:
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt <srostedt@redhat.com>
> > ---
> > include/linux/clocksource.h | 3 ++
> > kernel/time/timekeeping.c | 48 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> > 2 files changed, 51 insertions(+)
> >
> > Index: linux-compile-i386.git/kernel/time/timekeeping.c
> > ===================================================================
> > --- linux-compile-i386.git.orig/kernel/time/timekeeping.c 2008-01-09 14:27:26.000000000 -0500
> > +++ linux-compile-i386.git/kernel/time/timekeeping.c 2008-01-09 14:34:40.000000000 -0500
> > @@ -103,6 +103,54 @@ static inline void __get_realtime_clock_
> > timespec_add_ns(ts, nsecs);
> > }
> >
> > +cycle_t notrace get_monotonic_cycles(void)
> > +{
> > + cycle_t cycle_now, cycle_delta, cycle_raw, cycle_last;
> > +
> > + do {
> > + /*
> > + * cycle_raw and cycle_last can change on
> > + * another CPU and we need the delta calculation
> > + * of cycle_now and cycle_last happen atomic, as well
> > + * as the adding to cycle_raw. We don't need to grab
> > + * any locks, we just keep trying until get all the
> > + * calculations together in one state.
> > + *
> > + * In fact, we __cant__ grab any locks. This
> > + * function is called from the latency_tracer which can
> > + * be called anywhere. To grab any locks (including
> > + * seq_locks) we risk putting ourselves into a deadlock.
> > + */
>
> I wonder what makes the compiler read the clock->cycle_raw and
> clock->cycle_last variables twice ? I guess some memory barriers could
> be welcome here ?

We need both cycle_raw and cycle_last to be the same from the time we read
the clock source to the time we calculate cycle_delta. If either one
changes then delta is bogus.

Also, it just occurred to me that this is an old patch. I thought I
renamed cycle_raw to cycle_monotonic. But I must have lost that patch :-/

>
> > + cycle_raw = clock->cycle_raw;
> > + cycle_last = clock->cycle_last;
> > +
> > + /* read clocksource: */
> > + cycle_now = clocksource_read(clock);
> > +
> > + /* calculate the delta since the last update_wall_time: */
> > + cycle_delta = (cycle_now - cycle_last) & clock->mask;
> > +
> > + } while (cycle_raw != clock->cycle_raw ||
> > + cycle_last != clock->cycle_last);
> > +
> > + return cycle_raw + cycle_delta;
> > +}

-- Steve