> > 15/06/2021 11:33, Ananyev, Konstantin: > > > 14/06/2021 17:48, Jerin Jacob: > > > > On Mon, Jun 14, 2021 at 8:29 PM Ananyev, Konstantin > > > > <konstantin.anan...@intel.com> wrote: > > > > > I had only a quick look at your approach so far. > > > > > But from what I can read, in MT environment your suggestion will > > > > > require > > > > > extra synchronization for each read-write access to such parray > > > > > element (lock, rcu, ...). > > > > > I think what Bruce suggests will be much ligther, easier to implement > > > > > and less error prone. > > > > > At least for rte_ethdevs[] and friends. > > > > > > > > +1 > > > > > > Please could you have a deeper look and tell me why we need more locks? > > > The element pointers doesn't change. > > > Only the array pointer change at resize, > > > > Yes, array pointer changes at resize, and reader has to read that value > > to access elements in the parray. Which means that we need some sync > > between readers and updaters to avoid reader using stale pointer > > (ref-counter, rcu, etc.). > > No > The old array is still there, so we don't need sync. > > > I.E. updater can free old array pointer *only* when it can guarantee that > > there are no > > readers that still use it. > > No > Reading an element is OK because the pointer to the element is not changed. > Getting the pointer to an element from the index is the only thing > which is blocking the freeing of an array, > and I see no reason why dereferencing an index would be longer > than 2 consecutive resizes of the array.
In general, your thread can be switched off the cpu at any moment. And you don't know for sure when it will be scheduled back. > > > > but the old one is still usable until the next resize. > > > > Ok, but what is the guarantee that reader would *always* finish till next > > resize? > > As an example of such race condition: > > > > /* global one */ > > struct rte_parray pa; > > > > /* thread #1, tries to read elem from the array */ > > .... > > int **x = pa->array; > > We should not save the array pointer. > Each index must be dereferenced with the macro > getting the current array pointer. > So the interrupt is during dereference of a single index. You still need to read your pa->array somewhere (let say into a register). Straight after that your thread can be interrupted. Then when it is scheduled back to the CPU that value (in a register) might be s stale one. > > > /* thread # 1 get suspended for a while at that point */ > > > > /* meanwhile thread #2 does: */ > > .... > > /* causes first resize(), x still valid, points to pa->old_array */ > > rte_parray_alloc(&pa, ...); > > ..... > > /* causes second resize(), x now points to freed memory */ > > rte_parray_alloc(&pa, ...); > > ... > > 2 resizes is a very long time, it is at minimum 33 allocations! > > > /* at that point thread #1 resumes: */ > > > > /* contents of x[0] are undefined, 'p' could point anywhere, > > might cause segfault or silent memory corruption */ > > int *p = x[0]; > > > > > > Yes probability of such situation is quite small. > > But it is still possible. > > In device probing, I don't see how it is realistically possible: > 33 device allocations during 1 device index being dereferenced. Yeh, it would work fine 1M times, but sometimes will crash. Which will make it even harder to reproduce, debug and fix. I think that when introducing a new generic library into DPDK, we should avoid making such assumptions. > I agree it is tricky, but that's the whole point of finding tricks > to keep fast code. It is not tricky, it is buggy 😊 You introducing a race condition into the new core generic library by design, and trying to convince people that it is *OK*. Sorry, but NACK from me till that issue will be addressed. > > > > I think we don't need more. > >
