Re: [patch 10/12] hrtimer: Determine hard/soft expiry mode for hrtimer sleepers on RT

[Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>]

On Fri, 26 Jul 2019, Steven Rostedt wrote:

> On Fri, 26 Jul 2019 20:30:58 +0200
> Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> wrote:
> 
> > +++ b/kernel/time/hrtimer.c
> > @@ -1662,6 +1662,30 @@ static enum hrtimer_restart hrtimer_wake
> >  static void __hrtimer_init_sleeper(struct hrtimer_sleeper *sl,
> >  				   clockid_t clock_id, enum hrtimer_mode mode)
> >  {
> > +	/*
> > +	 * On PREEMPT_RT enabled kernels hrtimers which are not explicitely
> > +	 * marked for hard interrupt expiry mode are moved into soft
> > +	 * interrupt context either for latency reasons or because the
> > +	 * hrtimer callback takes regular spinlocks or invokes other
> > +	 * functions which are not suitable for hard interrupt context on
> > +	 * PREEMPT_RT.
> 
> Have we marked all timer handlers that have normal spin_locks as
> HRTIMER_MODE_SOFT? Otherwise, can't we switch one to hard below and
> having their handler grab a spin_lock/mutex in hard interrupt context
> in RT?

See patch 09/12. We move all timers into soft mode which are not marked
MODE_HARD.

> > +	 *
> > +	 * The hrtimer_sleeper callback is RT compatible in hard interrupt

                                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > +	 * context, but there is a latency concern: Untrusted userspace can
> > +	 * spawn many threads which arm timers for the same expiry time on
> > +	 * the same CPU. That causes a latency spike due to the wakeup of
> > +	 * a gazillion threads.
> > +	 *
> > +	 * OTOH, priviledged real-time user space applications rely on the
> > +	 * low latency of hard interrupt wakeups. If the current task is in
> > +	 * a real-time scheduling class, mark the mode for hard interrupt
> > +	 * expiry.
> > +	 */
> > +	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT)) {
> > +		if (task_is_realtime(current) && !(mode & HRTIMER_MODE_SOFT))
> > +			mode |= HRTIMER_MODE_HARD;
> > +	}
> > +
> >  	__hrtimer_init(&sl->timer, clock_id, mode);
> >  	sl->timer.function = hrtimer_wakeup;

It's the wakeup function and nothing is supposed to override that.

Thanks,

	tglx