Hello,
I am not sure I should ask here, but since Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
mentions load/store tearing perhaps my question is not completely off-topic...
I am fighting with mysterious RHEL bug, it can be reproduced on ppc and s390
but not on x86. Finally I seem to understand the problem, and I even wrote the
stupid kernel module to ensure, see it below at the end.
It triggers the problem immediately, kt_2() sees the wrong value in freeze_stop.
(If I turn ->freeze_stop int "long", the problem goes away).
So the question is: is this gcc bug or the code below is buggy?
If it is buggy, then probably memory-barriers.txt could mention that you should
be carefull with bit fields, even ACCESS_ONCE() obviously can't help.
Or this just discloses my ignorance and you need at least aligned(long) after a
bit field to be thread-safe ? I thought that compiler should take care and add
the necessary alignment if (say) CPU can't update a single byte/uint.
gcc version 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-9) (GCC). Asm:
0000000000000000 <.kt_2>:
0: 7c 08 02 a6 mflr r0
4: fb 81 ff e0 std r28,-32(r1)
8: fb a1 ff e8 std r29,-24(r1)
c: fb c1 ff f0 std r30,-16(r1)
10: fb e1 ff f8 std r31,-8(r1)
14: eb c2 00 00 ld r30,0(r2)
18: f8 01 00 10 std r0,16(r1)
1c: f8 21 ff 71 stdu r1,-144(r1)
20: 7c 7d 1b 78 mr r29,r3
24: 3b e0 00 00 li r31,0
28: 78 3c 04 64 rldicr r28,r1,0,49
2c: 3b 9c 00 80 addi r28,r28,128
30: 48 00 00 2c b 5c <.kt_2+0x5c>
34: 60 00 00 00 nop
38: 60 00 00 00 nop
3c: 60 00 00 00 nop
40: 93 fd 00 04 stw r31,4(r29)
44: e8 9d 00 06 lwa r4,4(r29)
48: 7f 84 f8 00 cmpw cr7,r4,r31
4c: 40 de 00 4c bne- cr7,98 <.kt_2+0x98>
50: e8 1c 00 00 ld r0,0(r28)
54: 78 09 f7 e3 rldicl. r9,r0,62,63
58: 40 c2 00 54 bne- ac <.kt_2+0xac>
5c: 48 00 00 01 bl 5c <.kt_2+0x5c>
60: 60 00 00 00 nop
64: 3b ff 00 01 addi r31,r31,1
68: 2f a3 00 00 cmpdi cr7,r3,0
6c: 7f ff 07 b4 extsw r31,r31
70: 41 9e ff d0 beq+ cr7,40 <.kt_2+0x40>
74: 38 21 00 90 addi r1,r1,144
78: 38 60 00 00 li r3,0
7c: e8 01 00 10 ld r0,16(r1)
80: eb 81 ff e0 ld r28,-32(r1)
84: eb a1 ff e8 ld r29,-24(r1)
88: eb c1 ff f0 ld r30,-16(r1)
8c: eb e1 ff f8 ld r31,-8(r1)
90: 7c 08 03 a6 mtlr r0
94: 4e 80 00 20 blr
98: e8 7e 80 28 ld r3,-32728(r30)
9c: 7f e5 fb 78 mr r5,r31
a0: 48 00 00 01 bl a0 <.kt_2+0xa0>
a4: 60 00 00 00 nop
a8: 4b ff ff a8 b 50 <.kt_2+0x50>
ac: 48 00 00 01 bl ac <.kt_2+0xac>
b0: 60 00 00 00 nop
b4: 4b ff ff a8 b 5c <.kt_2+0x5c>
b8: 60 00 00 00 nop
bc: 60 00 00 00 nop
00000000000000c0 <.kt_1>:
c0: 7c 08 02 a6 mflr r0
c4: fb 81 ff e0 std r28,-32(r1)
c8: fb a1 ff e8 std r29,-24(r1)
cc: fb c1 ff f0 std r30,-16(r1)
d0: fb e1 ff f8 std r31,-8(r1)
d4: eb c2 00 00 ld r30,0(r2)
d8: f8 01 00 10 std r0,16(r1)
dc: f8 21 ff 71 stdu r1,-144(r1)
e0: 7c 7d 1b 78 mr r29,r3
e4: 3b e0 00 00 li r31,0
e8: 78 3c 04 64 rldicr r28,r1,0,49
ec: 3b 9c 00 80 addi r28,r28,128
f0: 48 00 00 38 b 128 <.kt_1+0x68>
f4: 60 00 00 00 nop
f8: 60 00 00 00 nop
fc: 60 00 00 00 nop
100: e8 1d 00 00 ld r0,0(r29)
104: 79 20 e8 0e rldimi r0,r9,61,0
108: f8 1d 00 00 std r0,0(r29)
10c: 80 1d 00 00 lwz r0,0(r29)
110: 54 00 1f 7e rlwinm r0,r0,3,29,31
114: 7f 80 f8 00 cmpw cr7,r0,r31
118: 40 de 00 6c bne- cr7,184 <.kt_1+0xc4>
11c: e8 1c 00 00 ld r0,0(r28)
120: 78 09 f7 e3 rldicl. r9,r0,62,63
124: 40 c2 00 70 bne- 194 <.kt_1+0xd4>
128: 48 00 00 01 bl 128 <.kt_1+0x68>
12c: 60 00 00 00 nop
130: 3b ff 00 01 addi r31,r31,1
134: 2f a3 00 00 cmpdi cr7,r3,0
138: 7f ff 07 b4 extsw r31,r31
13c: 2f 1f 00 07 cmpwi cr6,r31,7
140: 7b e9 07 60 clrldi r9,r31,61
144: 40 9e 00 1c bne- cr7,160 <.kt_1+0xa0>
148: 40 9a ff b8 bne+ cr6,100 <.kt_1+0x40>
14c: 39 20 00 00 li r9,0
150: 3b e0 00 00 li r31,0
154: 4b ff ff ac b 100 <.kt_1+0x40>
158: 60 00 00 00 nop
15c: 60 00 00 00 nop
160: 38 21 00 90 addi r1,r1,144
164: 38 60 00 00 li r3,0
168: e8 01 00 10 ld r0,16(r1)
16c: eb 81 ff e0 ld r28,-32(r1)
170: eb a1 ff e8 ld r29,-24(r1)
174: eb c1 ff f0 ld r30,-16(r1)
178: eb e1 ff f8 ld r31,-8(r1)
17c: 7c 08 03 a6 mtlr r0
180: 4e 80 00 20 blr
184: e8 7e 80 30 ld r3,-32720(r30)
188: 48 00 00 01 bl 188 <.kt_1+0xc8>
18c: 60 00 00 00 nop
190: 4b ff ff 8c b 11c <.kt_1+0x5c>
194: 48 00 00 01 bl 194 <.kt_1+0xd4>
198: 60 00 00 00 nop
19c: 4b ff ff 8c b 128 <.kt_1+0x68>
Unfortunately it tells me nothing, I do not know ppc.
Oleg.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/kernel.h>
#include <linux/kthread.h>
struct utrace {
unsigned int resume:3;
int freeze_stop;
};
static int kt_1(void *arg)
{
struct utrace *u = arg;
int r = 0;
while (!kthread_should_stop()) {
if (++r == 7)
r = 0;
u->resume = r;
barrier();
if (u->resume != r)
printk(KERN_CRIT "BUG! bitfield\n");
if (need_resched())
schedule();
}
return 0;
}
static int kt_2(void *arg)
{
struct utrace *u = arg;
int f = 0;
while (!kthread_should_stop()) {
u->freeze_stop = ++f;
barrier();
if (u->freeze_stop != f)
printk(KERN_CRIT "BUG! freeze_stop %d != %d\n",
u->freeze_stop, f);
if (need_resched())
schedule();
}
return 0;
}
static struct task_struct *t_1, *t_2;
static struct utrace utrace;
static int __init mod_init(void)
{
WARN_ON(IS_ERR(t_1 = kthread_run(kt_1, &utrace, "kt_1")));
WARN_ON(IS_ERR(t_2 = kthread_run(kt_2, &utrace, "kt_2")));
return 0;
}
static void __exit mod_exit(void)
{
kthread_stop(t_1);
kthread_stop(t_2);
}
MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
module_init(mod_init);
module_exit(mod_exit);