[PATCH RFC tip/core/rcu] accelerate grace period if last non-dynticked CPU

Paul E. McKenney
2010-01-25T03:48:23Z

[Experimental RFC, not for inclusion.]

I recently received a complaint that RCU was refusing to let a system
go into low-power state immediately, instead waiting a few ticks after
the system had gone idle before letting go of the last CPU. Of course,
the reason for this was that there were a couple of RCU callbacks on
the last CPU.

Currently, rcu_needs_cpu() simply checks whether the current CPU has
an outstanding RCU callback, which means that the last CPU to go into
dyntick-idle mode might wait a few ticks for the relevant grace periods
to complete. However, if all the other CPUs are in dyntick-idle mode,
and if this CPU is in a quiescent state (which it is for RCU-bh and
RCU-sched any time that we are considering going into dyntick-idle mode),
then the grace period is instantly complete.

This patch therefore repeatedly invokes the RCU grace-period machinery
in order to force any needed grace periods to complete quickly. It does
so a limited number of times in order to prevent starvation by an RCU
callback function that might pass itself to call_rcu().

Thoughts?

Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>

diff --git a/init/Kconfig b/init/Kconfig
index d95ca7c..42bf914 100644
--- a/init/Kconfig
+++ b/init/Kconfig
@@ -396,6 +396,22 @@ config RCU_FANOUT_EXACT

Say N if unsure.

+config RCU_FAST_NO_HZ
+ bool "Accelerate last non-dyntick-idle CPU's grace periods"
+ depends on TREE_RCU && NO_HZ && SMP
+ default n
+ help
+ This option causes RCU to attempt to accelerate grace periods
+ in order to allow the final CPU to enter dynticks-idle state
+ more quickly. On the other hand, this option increases the
+ overhead of the dynticks-idle checking, particularly on systems
+ with large numbers of CPUs.
+
+ Say Y if energy efficiency is critically important, particularly
+ if you have relatively few CPUs.
+
+ Say N if you are unsure.
+
config TREE_RCU_TRACE
def_bool RCU_TRACE && ( TREE_RCU || TREE_PREEMPT_RCU )
select DEBUG_FS
diff --git a/kernel/rcutree.c b/kernel/rcutree.c
index 099a255..29d88c0 100644
--- a/kernel/rcutree.c
+++ b/kernel/rcutree.c
@@ -1550,10 +1550,9 @@ static int rcu_pending(int cpu)
/*
* Check to see if any future RCU-related work will need to be done
* by the current CPU, even if none need be done immediately, returning
- * 1 if so. This function is part of the RCU implementation; it is -not-
- * an exported member of the RCU API.
+ * 1 if so.
*/
-int rcu_needs_cpu(int cpu)
+static int rcu_needs_cpu_quick_check(int cpu)
{
/* RCU callbacks either ready or pending? */
return per_cpu(rcu_sched_data, cpu).nxtlist ||
diff --git a/kernel/rcutree_plugin.h b/kernel/rcutree_plugin.h
index e77cdf3..d6170a9 100644
--- a/kernel/rcutree_plugin.h
+++ b/kernel/rcutree_plugin.h
@@ -906,3 +906,72 @@ static void __init __rcu_init_preempt(void)
}

#endif /* #else #ifdef CONFIG_TREE_PREEMPT_RCU */
+
+#if defined(CONFIG_TREE_PREEMPT_RCU) || !defined(CONFIG_RCU_FAST_NO_HZ)
+
+/*
+ * Check to see if any future RCU-related work will need to be done
+ * by the current CPU, even if none need be done immediately, returning
+ * 1 if so. This function is part of the RCU implementation; it is -not-
+ * an exported member of the RCU API.
+ *
+ * Because we have preemptible RCU, just check whether this CPU needs
+ * any flavor of RCU. Do not chew up lots of CPU cycles with preemption
+ * disabled in a most-likely vain attempt to cause RCU not to need this CPU.
+ */
+int rcu_needs_cpu(int cpu)
+{
+ return rcu_needs_cpu_quick_check(cpu);
+}
+
+#else
+
+#define RCU_NEEDS_CPU_FLUSHES 5
+
+/*
+ * Check to see if any future RCU-related work will need to be done
+ * by the current CPU, even if none need be done immediately, returning
+ * 1 if so. This function is part of the RCU implementation; it is -not-
+ * an exported member of the RCU API.
+ *
+ * Because we are not supporting preemptible RCU, attempt to accelerate
+ * any current grace periods so that RCU no longer needs this CPU, but
+ * only if all other CPUs are already in dynticks-idle mode. This will
+ * allow the CPU cores to be powered down immediately, as opposed to after
+ * waiting many milliseconds for grace periods to elapse.
+ */
+int rcu_needs_cpu(int cpu)
+{
+ int c = 1;
+ int i;
+ int thatcpu;
+
+ /* Don't bother unless we are the last non-dyntick-idle CPU. */
+ for_each_cpu(thatcpu, nohz_cpu_mask)
+ if (thatcpu != cpu)
+ return rcu_needs_cpu_quick_check(cpu);
+
+ /* Try to push remaining RCU-sched and RCU-bh callbacks through. */
+ for (i = 0; i < RCU_NEEDS_CPU_FLUSHES && c; i++) {
+ c = 0;
+ if (per_cpu(rcu_sched_data, cpu).nxtlist) {
+ c = 1;
+ rcu_sched_qs(cpu);
+ force_quiescent_state(&rcu_sched_state, 0);
+ __rcu_process_callbacks(&rcu_sched_state,
+ &per_cpu(rcu_sched_data, cpu));
+ }
+ if (per_cpu(rcu_bh_data, cpu).nxtlist) {
+ c = 1;
+ rcu_bh_qs(cpu);
+ force_quiescent_state(&rcu_bh_state, 0);
+ __rcu_process_callbacks(&rcu_bh_state,
+ &per_cpu(rcu_bh_data, cpu));
+ }
+ }
+
+ /* If RCU callbacks are still pending, RCU still needs this CPU. */
+ return c;
+}
+
+#endif