Enable arm_global_timer for Zynq brakes boot

Michal Simek michal.simek at xilinx.com
Tue Aug 6 05:18:10 EDT 2013


On 08/06/2013 10:46 AM, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
> On 08/06/2013 03:28 AM, Sören Brinkmann wrote:
>> Hi Daniel,
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 01, 2013 at 07:48:04PM +0200, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
>>> On 08/01/2013 07:43 PM, Sören Brinkmann wrote:
>>>> On Thu, Aug 01, 2013 at 07:29:12PM +0200, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
>>>>> On 08/01/2013 01:38 AM, Sören Brinkmann wrote:
>>>>>> On Thu, Aug 01, 2013 at 01:01:27AM +0200, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
>>>>>>> On 08/01/2013 12:18 AM, Sören Brinkmann wrote:
>>>>>>>> On Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 11:08:51PM +0200, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
>>>>>>>>> On 07/31/2013 10:58 PM, Sören Brinkmann wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> On Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 10:49:06PM +0200, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> On 07/31/2013 12:34 AM, Sören Brinkmann wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>> On Tue, Jul 30, 2013 at 10:47:15AM +0200, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>> On 07/30/2013 02:03 AM, Sören Brinkmann wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hi Daniel,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> On Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 02:51:49PM +0200, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (snip)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the CPUIDLE_FLAG_TIMER_STOP flag tells the cpuidle framework the local
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> timer will be stopped when entering to the idle state. In this case, the
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> cpuidle framework will call clockevents_notify(ENTER) and switches to a
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> broadcast timer and will call clockevents_notify(EXIT) when exiting the
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> idle state, switching the local timer back in use.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I've been thinking about this, trying to understand how this makes my
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> boot attempts on Zynq hang. IIUC, the wrongly provided TIMER_STOP flag
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> would make the timer core switch to a broadcast device even though it
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> wouldn't be necessary. But shouldn't it still work? It sounds like we do
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> something useless, but nothing wrong in a sense that it should result in
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> breakage. I guess I'm missing something obvious. This timer system will
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> always remain a mystery to me.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Actually this more or less leads to the question: What is this
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 'broadcast timer'. I guess that is some clockevent device which is
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> common to all cores? (that would be the cadence_ttc for Zynq). Is the
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> hang pointing to some issue with that driver?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you look at the /proc/timer_list, which timer is used for broadcasting ?
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> So, the correct run results (full output attached).
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> The vanilla kernel uses the twd timers as local timers and the TTC as
>>>>>>>>>>>> broadcast device:
>>>>>>>>>>>> 	Tick Device: mode:     1                                                         
>>>>>>>>>>>> 	Broadcast device  
>>>>>>>>>>>> 	Clock Event Device: ttc_clockevent
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> When I remove the offending CPUIDLE flag and add the DT fragment to
>>>>>>>>>>>> enable the global timer, the twd timers are still used as local timers
>>>>>>>>>>>> and the broadcast device is the global timer:
>>>>>>>>>>>> 	Tick Device: mode:     1                                                         
>>>>>>>>>>>> 	Broadcast device                                                                 
>>>>>>>>>>>> 	Clock Event Device: arm_global_timer
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Again, since boot hangs in the actually broken case, I don't see way to
>>>>>>>>>>>> obtain this information for that case.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Can't you use the maxcpus=1 option to ensure the system to boot up ?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Right, that works. I forgot about that option after you mentioned, that
>>>>>>>>>> it is most likely not that useful.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Anyway, this are those sysfs files with an unmodified cpuidle driver and
>>>>>>>>>> the gt enabled and having maxcpus=1 set.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> /proc/timer_list:
>>>>>>>>>> 	Tick Device: mode:     1
>>>>>>>>>> 	Broadcast device
>>>>>>>>>> 	Clock Event Device: arm_global_timer
>>>>>>>>>> 	 max_delta_ns:   12884902005
>>>>>>>>>> 	 min_delta_ns:   1000
>>>>>>>>>> 	 mult:           715827876
>>>>>>>>>> 	 shift:          31
>>>>>>>>>> 	 mode:           3
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Here the mode is 3 (CLOCK_EVT_MODE_ONESHOT)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> The previous timer_list output you gave me when removing the offending
>>>>>>>>> cpuidle flag, it was 1 (CLOCK_EVT_MODE_SHUTDOWN).
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Is it possible you try to get this output again right after onlining the
>>>>>>>>> cpu1 in order to check if the broadcast device switches to SHUTDOWN ?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> How do I do that? I tried to online CPU1 after booting with maxcpus=1
>>>>>>>> and that didn't end well:
>>>>>>>> 	# echo 1 > online && cat /proc/timer_list 
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hmm, I was hoping to have a small delay before the kernel hangs but
>>>>>>> apparently this is not the case... :(
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I suspect the global timer is shutdown at one moment but I don't
>>>>>>> understand why and when.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Can you add a stack trace in the "clockevents_shutdown" function with
>>>>>>> the clockevent device name ? Perhaps, we may see at boot time an
>>>>>>> interesting trace when it hangs.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I did this change:
>>>>>> 	diff --git a/kernel/time/clockevents.c b/kernel/time/clockevents.c
>>>>>> 	index 38959c8..3ab11c1 100644
>>>>>> 	--- a/kernel/time/clockevents.c
>>>>>> 	+++ b/kernel/time/clockevents.c
>>>>>> 	@@ -92,6 +92,8 @@ void clockevents_set_mode(struct clock_event_device *dev,
>>>>>> 	  */
>>>>>> 	 void clockevents_shutdown(struct clock_event_device *dev)
>>>>>> 	 {
>>>>>> 	+       pr_info("ce->name:%s\n", dev->name);
>>>>>> 	+       dump_stack();
>>>>>> 	        clockevents_set_mode(dev, CLOCK_EVT_MODE_SHUTDOWN);
>>>>>> 	        dev->next_event.tv64 = KTIME_MAX;
>>>>>> 	 }
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It is hit a few times during boot, so I attach a full boot log. I really
>>>>>> don't know what to look for, but I hope you can spot something in it. I
>>>>>> really appreciate you taking the time.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for the traces.
>>>>
>>>> Sure.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> If you try without the ttc_clockevent configured in the kernel (but with
>>>>> twd and gt), does it boot ?
>>>>
>>>> Absence of the TTC doesn't seem to make any difference. It hangs at the
>>>> same location.
>>>
>>> Ok, IMO there is a problem with the broadcast device registration (may
>>> be vs twd).
>>>
>>> I will check later (kid duty) :)
>>
>> I was actually waiting for an update from your side and did something
>> else, but I seem to have run into this again. I was overhauling the
>> cadence_ttc (patch attached, based on tip/timers/core). And it seems to
>> show the same behavior as enabling the global_timer. With cpuidle off, it
>> works. With cpuidle, on it hangs. Removing the TIMER_STOP flag from the
>> C2 state makes it boot again.
>> It works just fine on our 3.10 kernel.
> 
> This is not necessary related to the bug. If the patch you sent broke
> the cadence_ttc driver, when you use it (with the TIMER_STOP), you will
> be stuck. Removing the flag, may signifies you don't use the broadcast
> timer, hence the bug is not surfacing.
> 
> Going back to the bug with the arm_global_timer, what is observed is the
> broadcast timer is *shutdown* when the second cpu is online.
> 
> I have to dig into the kernel/time/clockevents.c|tick-*.c because IMO
> the issue is coming from there but before I have to reproduce the bug,
> so find a board I have where I can add the arm_global_timer.
> 
>> Another thing I noticed - probably unrelated but hard to tell: On
>> 3.11-rc1 and later my system stops for quite some time at the hand off
>> to userspace. I.e. I see the 'freeing unused kernel memory...' line and
>> sometimes the following 'Welcome to Buildroot...' and then it stops and
>> on good kernels it continues after a while and boots through and on bad
>> ones it just hangs there.
> 
> did you try to dump the stacks with magic-sysrq ? Or git bisect ?

Soren: Are you able to replicate this issue on QEMU?
If yes, it should be the best if you can provide Qemu, kernel .config/
rootfs and simple manual to Daniel how to reach that fault.

Thanks,
Michal





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