Re: [PATCH v2 16/35] preempt,rcu: warn on PREEMPT_RCU=n, preempt=full

Paul E. McKenney
2024-05-30T18:32:56Z

On Wed, May 29, 2024 at 10:14:04AM +0200, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> On Mon, May 27, 2024 at 05:35:02PM -0700, Ankur Arora wrote:
> > The combination of PREEMPT_RCU=n and (PREEMPT_AUTO=y, preempt=full)
> > works at cross purposes: the RCU read side critical sections disable
> > preemption, while preempt=full schedules eagerly to minimize
> > latency.
> >
> > Warn if the user is switching to full preemption with PREEMPT_RCU=n.
> >
> > Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>
> > Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
> > Cc: Juri Lelli <juri.lelli@redhat.com>
> > Cc: Vincent Guittot <vincent.guittot@linaro.org>
> > Suggested-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>
> > Link: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/842f589e-5ea3-4c2b-9376-d718c14fabf5@paulmck-laptop/
> > Signed-off-by: Ankur Arora <ankur.a.arora@oracle.com>
> > ---
> > kernel/sched/core.c | 4 ++++
> > 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)
> >
> > diff --git a/kernel/sched/core.c b/kernel/sched/core.c
> > index d7804e29182d..df8e333f2d8b 100644
> > --- a/kernel/sched/core.c
> > +++ b/kernel/sched/core.c
> > @@ -8943,6 +8943,10 @@ static void __sched_dynamic_update(int mode)
> > break;
> >
> > case preempt_dynamic_full:
> > + if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RCU))
> > + pr_warn("%s: preempt=full is not recommended with CONFIG_PREEMPT_RCU=n",
> > + PREEMPT_MODE);
> > +
>
> Yeah, so I don't believe this is a viable strategy.
>
> Firstly, none of these RCU patches are actually about the whole LAZY
> preempt scheme, they apply equally well (arguably better) to the
> existing PREEMPT_DYNAMIC thing.
>
> Secondly, esp. with the LAZY thing, you are effectively running FULL at
> all times. It's just that some of the preemptions, typically those of
> the normal scheduling class are somewhat delayed. However RT/DL classes
> are still insta preempt.
>
> Meaning that if you run anything in the realtime classes you're running
> a fully preemptible kernel. As such, RCU had better be able to deal with
> it.
>
> So no, I don't believe this is right.

At one point, lazy preemption selected PREEMPT_COUNT (which I am
not seeing in this version, perhaps due to blindness on my part).
Of course, selecting PREEMPT_COUNT would result in !PREEMPT_RCU kernel's
rcu_read_lock() explicitly disabling preemption, thus avoiding preemption
(including lazy preemption) in RCU read-side critical sections.

Ankur, what am I missing here?

Thanx, Paul