[PATCH 3.19-rc6 v16 1/6] irqchip: gic: Optimize locking in gic_raise_softirq

[Nicolas Pitre]

On Tue, 3 Feb 2015, Daniel Thompson wrote:

> Currently gic_raise_softirq() is locked using upon irq_controller_lock.
> This lock is primarily used to make register read-modify-write sequences
> atomic but gic_raise_softirq() uses it instead to ensure that the
> big.LITTLE migration logic can figure out when it is safe to migrate
> interrupts between physical cores.
> 
> This is sub-optimal in closely related ways:
> 
> 1. No locking at all is required on systems where the b.L switcher is
>    not configured.

ACK

> 2. Finer grain locking can be used on systems where the b.L switcher is
>    present.

NAK

Consider this sequence:

	CPU 1				CPU 2
	-----				-----
	gic_raise_softirq()		gic_migrate_target()
	bl_migration_lock() [OK]
	[...]				[...]
	map |= gic_cpu_map[cpu];	bl_migration_lock() [contended]
	bl_migration_unlock(flags);	bl_migration_lock() [OK]
					gic_cpu_map[cpu] = 1 << new_cpu_id;
					bl_migration_unlock(flags);
					[...]
					(migrate pending IPI from old CPU)
	writel_relaxed(map to GIC_DIST_SOFTINT);
	[this IPI is now lost]

Granted, this race is apparently aready possible today.  We probably get 
away with it because the locked sequence in gic_migrate_target() include 
the retargetting of peripheral interrupts which gives plenti of time for 
code execution in gic_raise_softirq() to post its IPI before the IPI 
migration code is executed.  So in that sense it could be argued that 
the reduced lock coverage from your patch doesn't make things any worse.  
If anything it might even help by letting gic_migrate_target() complete 
sooner.  But removing cpu_map_migration_lock altogether would improve 
things even further by that logic.  I however don't think we should live 
so dangerously.

Therefore, for the lock to be effective, it has to encompass the 
changing of the CPU map _and_ migration of pending IPIs before new IPIs 
are allowed again.  That means the locked area has to grow not shrink.

Oh, and a minor nit:

> + * This lock is used by the big.LITTLE migration code to ensure no IPIs
> + * can be pended on the old core after the map has been updated.
> + */
> +#ifdef CONFIG_BL_SWITCHER
> +static DEFINE_RAW_SPINLOCK(cpu_map_migration_lock);
> +
> +static inline void bl_migration_lock(unsigned long *flags)

Please name it gic_migration_lock. "bl_migration_lock" is a bit too 
generic in this context.


Nicolas