Re: [PATCH] cpuhp: Expedite synchronize_rcu during CPU hotplug operations

[Vishal Chourasia]

On 12/01/26 17:51, Shrikanth Hegde wrote:

On 1/12/26 3:13 PM, Vishal Chourasia wrote:

Bulk CPU hotplug operations—such as switching SMT modes across all
cores—require hotplugging multiple CPUs in rapid succession. On large
systems, this process takes significant time, increasing as the number
of CPUs grows, leading to substantial delays on high-core-count
machines. Analysis [1] reveals that the majority of this time is spent
waiting for synchronize_rcu().

Expedite synchronize_rcu() during the hotplug path to accelerate the
operation. Since CPU hotplug is a user-initiated administrative task,
it should complete as quickly as possible.

Performance data on a PPC64 system with 400 CPUs:

+ ppc64_cpu --smt=1 (SMT8 to SMT1)
Before: real 1m14.792s
After:  real 0m03.205s  # ~23x improvement

+ ppc64_cpu --smt=8 (SMT1 to SMT8)
Before: real 2m27.695s
After:  real 0m02.510s  # ~58x improvement

Above numbers were collected on Linux 6.19.0-rc4-00310-g755bc1335e3b

Hi Vishal,

I tried on tip/master at 315f416d3e26.
It fails to apply. is rcu tree updated?

I'm currently working off the GitHub mirror (|github.com/torvalds/linux)|

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/5f2ab8a44d685701fe36cdaa8042a1aef215d10d.ca...@linux.vnet.ibm.com

Signed-off-by: Vishal Chourasia <vish...@linux.ibm.com>
---
  include/linux/rcupdate.h | 3 +++
  kernel/cpu.c             | 2 ++
  2 files changed, 5 insertions(+)

diff --git a/include/linux/rcupdate.h b/include/linux/rcupdate.h
index c5b30054cd01..03c06cfb2b6d 100644
--- a/include/linux/rcupdate.h
+++ b/include/linux/rcupdate.h

@@ -1192,6 +1192,9 @@ rcu_head_after_call_rcu(struct rcu_head *rhp, rcu_callback_t f)

  extern int rcu_expedited;
  extern int rcu_normal;
  +extern void rcu_expedite_gp(void);
+extern void rcu_unexpedite_gp(void);
+

Why extern is needed? All it needs is declarations no?

Already declared in kernel/rcu/rcu.h

kernel/cpu.c already includes linux/rcupdate.h, therefore
added an extern.

  DEFINE_LOCK_GUARD_0(rcu,
      do {
          rcu_read_lock();
diff --git a/kernel/cpu.c b/kernel/cpu.c
index 8df2d773fe3b..6b0d491d73f4 100644
--- a/kernel/cpu.c
+++ b/kernel/cpu.c
@@ -506,12 +506,14 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(cpus_read_unlock);
    void cpus_write_lock(void)
  {
+    rcu_expedite_gp();
      percpu_down_write(&cpu_hotplug_lock);
  }
    void cpus_write_unlock(void)
  {
      percpu_up_write(&cpu_hotplug_lock);
+    rcu_unexpedite_gp();
  }
    void lockdep_assert_cpus_held(void)

Have you tested kexec path or suspend/resume path?

I did test kexec patch by booting into another kernel via kexec path.
But, I didn't test suspend/resume.

Seems like the counter can nest, but would be good to verify.