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authorMauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@s-opensource.com>2017-07-17 11:17:36 -0300
committerMauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@s-opensource.com>2017-07-17 11:17:36 -0300
commita3db9d60a118571e696b684a6e8c692a2b064941 (patch)
treeff7bae0f79b7a2ee0bce03de4f883550200c52a9 /Documentation/this_cpu_ops.txt
parent2748e76ddb2967c4030171342ebdd3faa6a5e8e8 (diff)
parent5771a8c08880cdca3bfb4a3fc6d309d6bba20877 (diff)
Merge tag 'v4.13-rc1' into patchwork
Linux v4.13-rc1 * tag 'v4.13-rc1': (11136 commits) Linux v4.13-rc1 random: reorder READ_ONCE() in get_random_uXX random: suppress spammy warnings about unseeded randomness replace incorrect strscpy use in FORTIFY_SOURCE kmod: throttle kmod thread limit kmod: add test driver to stress test the module loader MAINTAINERS: give kmod some maintainer love xtensa: use generic fb.h fault-inject: add /proc/<pid>/fail-nth fault-inject: simplify access check for fail-nth fault-inject: make fail-nth read/write interface symmetric fault-inject: parse as natural 1-based value for fail-nth write interface fault-inject: automatically detect the number base for fail-nth write interface kernel/watchdog.c: use better pr_fmt prefix MAINTAINERS: move the befs tree to kernel.org lib/atomic64_test.c: add a test that atomic64_inc_not_zero() returns an int mm: fix overflow check in expand_upwards() ubifs: Set double hash cookie also for RENAME_EXCHANGE ubifs: Massage assert in ubifs_xattr_set() wrt. init_xattrs ubifs: Don't leak kernel memory to the MTD ...
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/this_cpu_ops.txt')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/this_cpu_ops.txt49
1 files changed, 28 insertions, 21 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/this_cpu_ops.txt b/Documentation/this_cpu_ops.txt
index 2cbf71975381..5cb8b883ae83 100644
--- a/Documentation/this_cpu_ops.txt
+++ b/Documentation/this_cpu_ops.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
+===================
this_cpu operations
--------------------
+===================
+
+:Author: Christoph Lameter, August 4th, 2014
+:Author: Pranith Kumar, Aug 2nd, 2014
this_cpu operations are a way of optimizing access to per cpu
variables associated with the *currently* executing processor. This is
@@ -39,7 +43,7 @@ operations.
The following this_cpu() operations with implied preemption protection
are defined. These operations can be used without worrying about
-preemption and interrupts.
+preemption and interrupts::
this_cpu_read(pcp)
this_cpu_write(pcp, val)
@@ -67,14 +71,14 @@ to relocate a per cpu relative address to the proper per cpu area for
the processor. So the relocation to the per cpu base is encoded in the
instruction via a segment register prefix.
-For example:
+For example::
DEFINE_PER_CPU(int, x);
int z;
z = this_cpu_read(x);
-results in a single instruction
+results in a single instruction::
mov ax, gs:[x]
@@ -84,16 +88,16 @@ this_cpu_ops such sequence also required preempt disable/enable to
prevent the kernel from moving the thread to a different processor
while the calculation is performed.
-Consider the following this_cpu operation:
+Consider the following this_cpu operation::
this_cpu_inc(x)
-The above results in the following single instruction (no lock prefix!)
+The above results in the following single instruction (no lock prefix!)::
inc gs:[x]
instead of the following operations required if there is no segment
-register:
+register::
int *y;
int cpu;
@@ -121,8 +125,10 @@ has to be paid for this optimization is the need to add up the per cpu
counters when the value of a counter is needed.
-Special operations:
--------------------
+Special operations
+------------------
+
+::
y = this_cpu_ptr(&x)
@@ -153,11 +159,15 @@ Therefore the use of x or &x outside of the context of per cpu
operations is invalid and will generally be treated like a NULL
pointer dereference.
+::
+
DEFINE_PER_CPU(int, x);
In the context of per cpu operations the above implies that x is a per
cpu variable. Most this_cpu operations take a cpu variable.
+::
+
int __percpu *p = &x;
&x and hence p is the *offset* of a per cpu variable. this_cpu_ptr()
@@ -168,7 +178,7 @@ strange.
Operations on a field of a per cpu structure
--------------------------------------------
-Let's say we have a percpu structure
+Let's say we have a percpu structure::
struct s {
int n,m;
@@ -177,14 +187,14 @@ Let's say we have a percpu structure
DEFINE_PER_CPU(struct s, p);
-Operations on these fields are straightforward
+Operations on these fields are straightforward::
this_cpu_inc(p.m)
z = this_cpu_cmpxchg(p.m, 0, 1);
-If we have an offset to struct s:
+If we have an offset to struct s::
struct s __percpu *ps = &p;
@@ -194,7 +204,7 @@ If we have an offset to struct s:
The calculation of the pointer may require the use of this_cpu_ptr()
-if we do not make use of this_cpu ops later to manipulate fields:
+if we do not make use of this_cpu ops later to manipulate fields::
struct s *pp;
@@ -206,7 +216,7 @@ if we do not make use of this_cpu ops later to manipulate fields:
Variants of this_cpu ops
--------------------------
+------------------------
this_cpu ops are interrupt safe. Some architectures do not support
these per cpu local operations. In that case the operation must be
@@ -222,7 +232,7 @@ preemption. If a per cpu variable is not used in an interrupt context
and the scheduler cannot preempt, then they are safe. If any interrupts
still occur while an operation is in progress and if the interrupt too
modifies the variable, then RMW actions can not be guaranteed to be
-safe.
+safe::
__this_cpu_read(pcp)
__this_cpu_write(pcp, val)
@@ -279,7 +289,7 @@ unless absolutely necessary. Please consider using an IPI to wake up
the remote CPU and perform the update to its per cpu area.
To access per-cpu data structure remotely, typically the per_cpu_ptr()
-function is used:
+function is used::
DEFINE_PER_CPU(struct data, datap);
@@ -289,7 +299,7 @@ function is used:
This makes it explicit that we are getting ready to access a percpu
area remotely.
-You can also do the following to convert the datap offset to an address
+You can also do the following to convert the datap offset to an address::
struct data *p = this_cpu_ptr(&datap);
@@ -305,7 +315,7 @@ the following scenario that occurs because two per cpu variables
share a cache-line but the relaxed synchronization is applied to
only one process updating the cache-line.
-Consider the following example
+Consider the following example::
struct test {
@@ -327,6 +337,3 @@ mind that a remote write will evict the cache line from the processor
that most likely will access it. If the processor wakes up and finds a
missing local cache line of a per cpu area, its performance and hence
the wake up times will be affected.
-
-Christoph Lameter, August 4th, 2014
-Pranith Kumar, Aug 2nd, 2014