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diff --git a/Documentation/trace/rv/monitor_rtapp.rst b/Documentation/trace/rv/monitor_rtapp.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..c8104eda924a --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/trace/rv/monitor_rtapp.rst @@ -0,0 +1,133 @@ +Real-time application monitors +============================== + +- Name: rtapp +- Type: container for multiple monitors +- Author: Nam Cao <namcao@linutronix.de> + +Description +----------- + +Real-time applications may have design flaws such that they experience +unexpected latency and fail to meet their time requirements. Often, these flaws +follow a few patterns: + + - Page faults: A real-time thread may access memory that does not have a + mapped physical backing or must first be copied (such as for copy-on-write). + Thus a page fault is raised and the kernel must first perform the expensive + action. This causes significant delays to the real-time thread + - Priority inversion: A real-time thread blocks waiting for a lower-priority + thread. This causes the real-time thread to effectively take on the + scheduling priority of the lower-priority thread. For example, the real-time + thread needs to access a shared resource that is protected by a + non-pi-mutex, but the mutex is currently owned by a non-real-time thread. + +The `rtapp` monitor detects these patterns. It aids developers to identify +reasons for unexpected latency with real-time applications. It is a container of +multiple sub-monitors described in the following sections. + +Monitor pagefault ++++++++++++++++++ + +The `pagefault` monitor reports real-time tasks raising page faults. Its +specification is:: + + RULE = always (RT imply not PAGEFAULT) + +To fix warnings reported by this monitor, `mlockall()` or `mlock()` can be used +to ensure physical backing for memory. + +This monitor may have false negatives because the pages used by the real-time +threads may just happen to be directly available during testing. To minimize +this, the system can be put under memory pressure (e.g. invoking the OOM killer +using a program that does `ptr = malloc(SIZE_OF_RAM); memset(ptr, 0, +SIZE_OF_RAM);`) so that the kernel executes aggressive strategies to recycle as +much physical memory as possible. + +Monitor sleep ++++++++++++++ + +The `sleep` monitor reports real-time threads sleeping in a manner that may +cause undesirable latency. Real-time applications should only put a real-time +thread to sleep for one of the following reasons: + + - Cyclic work: real-time thread sleeps waiting for the next cycle. For this + case, only the `clock_nanosleep` syscall should be used with `TIMER_ABSTIME` + (to avoid time drift) and `CLOCK_MONOTONIC` (to avoid the clock being + changed). No other method is safe for real-time. For example, threads + waiting for timerfd can be woken by softirq which provides no real-time + guarantee. + - Real-time thread waiting for something to happen (e.g. another thread + releasing shared resources, or a completion signal from another thread). In + this case, only futexes (FUTEX_LOCK_PI, FUTEX_LOCK_PI2 or one of + FUTEX_WAIT_*) should be used. Applications usually do not use futexes + directly, but use PI mutexes and PI condition variables which are built on + top of futexes. Be aware that the C library might not implement conditional + variables as safe for real-time. As an alternative, the librtpi library + exists to provide a conditional variable implementation that is correct for + real-time applications in Linux. + +Beside the reason for sleeping, the eventual waker should also be +real-time-safe. Namely, one of: + + - An equal-or-higher-priority thread + - Hard interrupt handler + - Non-maskable interrupt handler + +This monitor's warning usually means one of the following: + + - Real-time thread is blocked by a non-real-time thread (e.g. due to + contention on a mutex without priority inheritance). This is priority + inversion. + - Time-critical work waits for something which is not safe for real-time (e.g. + timerfd). + - The work executed by the real-time thread does not need to run at real-time + priority at all. This is not a problem for the real-time thread itself, but + it is potentially taking the CPU away from other important real-time work. + +Application developers may purposely choose to have their real-time application +sleep in a way that is not safe for real-time. It is debatable whether that is a +problem. Application developers must analyze the warnings to make a proper +assessment. + +The monitor's specification is:: + + RULE = always ((RT and SLEEP) imply (RT_FRIENDLY_SLEEP or ALLOWLIST)) + + RT_FRIENDLY_SLEEP = (RT_VALID_SLEEP_REASON or KERNEL_THREAD) + and ((not WAKE) until RT_FRIENDLY_WAKE) + + RT_VALID_SLEEP_REASON = FUTEX_WAIT + or RT_FRIENDLY_NANOSLEEP + + RT_FRIENDLY_NANOSLEEP = CLOCK_NANOSLEEP + and NANOSLEEP_TIMER_ABSTIME + and NANOSLEEP_CLOCK_MONOTONIC + + RT_FRIENDLY_WAKE = WOKEN_BY_EQUAL_OR_HIGHER_PRIO + or WOKEN_BY_HARDIRQ + or WOKEN_BY_NMI + or KTHREAD_SHOULD_STOP + + ALLOWLIST = BLOCK_ON_RT_MUTEX + or FUTEX_LOCK_PI + or TASK_IS_RCU + or TASK_IS_MIGRATION + +Beside the scenarios described above, this specification also handle some +special cases: + + - `KERNEL_THREAD`: kernel tasks do not have any pattern that can be recognized + as valid real-time sleeping reasons. Therefore sleeping reason is not + checked for kernel tasks. + - `KTHREAD_SHOULD_STOP`: a non-real-time thread may stop a real-time kernel + thread by waking it and waiting for it to exit (`kthread_stop()`). This + wakeup is safe for real-time. + - `ALLOWLIST`: to handle known false positives with the kernel. + - `BLOCK_ON_RT_MUTEX` is included in the allowlist due to its implementation. + In the release path of rt_mutex, a boosted task is de-boosted before waking + the rt_mutex's waiter. Consequently, the monitor may see a real-time-unsafe + wakeup (e.g. non-real-time task waking real-time task). This is actually + real-time-safe because preemption is disabled for the duration. + - `FUTEX_LOCK_PI` is included in the allowlist for the same reason as + `BLOCK_ON_RT_MUTEX`. |