[PATCH v2 2/2] io: prevent compiler reordering on the default readX() implementation

[Arnd Bergmann]

On Tue, Apr 3, 2018 at 2:44 PM, Sinan Kaya <okaya at codeaurora.org> wrote:
> On 4/3/2018 7:13 AM, Arnd Bergmann wrote:
>> On Tue, Apr 3, 2018 at 12:49 PM, Mark Rutland <mark.rutland at arm.com> wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 11:58:13AM -0400, Sinan Kaya wrote:
>>>> The default implementation of mapping readX() to __raw_readX() is wrong.
>>>> readX() has stronger ordering semantics. Compiler is allowed to reorder
>>>> __raw_readX().
>>>
>>> Could you please specify what the compiler is potentially reordering
>>> __raw_readX() against, and why this would be wrong?
>>>
>>> e.g. do we care about prior normal memory accesses, subsequent normal
>>> memory accesses, and/or other IO accesses?
>>>
>>> I assume that the asm-generic __raw_{read,write}X() implementations are
>>> all ordered w.r.t. each other (at least for a specific device).
>>
>> I think that is correct: the compiler won't reorder those because of the
>> 'volatile' pointer dereference, but it can reorder access to a normal
>> pointer against a __raw_readl()/__raw_writel(), which breaks the scenario
>> of using writel to trigger a DMA, or using a readl to see if a DMA has
>> completed.
>
> Yes, we are worried about memory update vs. IO update ordering here.
> That was the reason why barrier() was introduced in this patch. I'll try to
> clarify that better in the commit text.
>
>>
>> The question is whether we should use a stronger barrier such
>> as rmb() amd wmb() here rather than a simple compiler barrier.
>>
>> I would assume that on complex architectures with write buffers and
>> out-of-order prefetching, those are required, while on architectures
>> without those features, the barriers are cheap.
>
> That's my reasoning too. I'm trying to follow the x86 example here where there
> is a compiler barrier in writeX() and readX() family of functions.

I think x86 is the special case here because it implicitly guarantees
the strict ordering in the hardware, as long as the compiler gets it
right. For the asm-generic version, it may be better to play safe and
do the safest version, requiring architectures to override that barrier
if they want to be faster.

We could use the same macros that riscv has, using __io_br(),
__io_ar(), __io_bw() and __io_aw() for before/after read/write.

      Arnd