From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=3.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,SIGNED_OFF_BY,SPF_HELO_NONE,SPF_PASS autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.0 Received: from mail.kernel.org (mail.kernel.org [198.145.29.99]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3048DC4332B for ; Wed, 18 Mar 2020 20:48:14 +0000 (UTC) Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [209.132.180.67]) by mail.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0916D20775 for ; Wed, 18 Mar 2020 20:48:14 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1727230AbgCRUrb (ORCPT ); Wed, 18 Mar 2020 16:47:31 -0400 Received: from Galois.linutronix.de ([193.142.43.55]:58409 "EHLO Galois.linutronix.de" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1727183AbgCRUr2 (ORCPT ); Wed, 18 Mar 2020 16:47:28 -0400 Received: from p5de0bf0b.dip0.t-ipconnect.de ([93.224.191.11] helo=nanos.tec.linutronix.de) by Galois.linutronix.de with esmtpsa (TLS1.2:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA256:256) (Exim 4.80) (envelope-from ) id 1jEfaM-00066P-DH; Wed, 18 Mar 2020 21:46:42 +0100 Received: from nanos.tec.linutronix.de (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by nanos.tec.linutronix.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id D1C191040D0; Wed, 18 Mar 2020 21:46:36 +0100 (CET) Message-Id: <20200318204408.211530902@linutronix.de> User-Agent: quilt/0.65 Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2020 21:43:10 +0100 From: Thomas Gleixner To: LKML Cc: Peter Zijlstra , Linus Torvalds , Ingo Molnar , Will Deacon , "Paul E . McKenney" , Joel Fernandes , Steven Rostedt , Randy Dunlap , Sebastian Andrzej Siewior , Logan Gunthorpe , Kurt Schwemmer , Bjorn Helgaas , linux-pci@vger.kernel.org, Felipe Balbi , Greg Kroah-Hartman , linux-usb@vger.kernel.org, Kalle Valo , "David S. Miller" , linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org, netdev@vger.kernel.org, Oleg Nesterov , Davidlohr Bueso , Michael Ellerman , Arnd Bergmann , linuxppc-dev@lists.ozlabs.org Subject: [patch V2 08/15] Documentation: Add lock ordering and nesting documentation References: <20200318204302.693307984@linutronix.de> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-Linutronix-Spam-Score: -1.0 X-Linutronix-Spam-Level: - X-Linutronix-Spam-Status: No , -1.0 points, 5.0 required, ALL_TRUSTED=-1,SHORTCIRCUIT=-0.0001 Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org From: Thomas Gleixner The kernel provides a variety of locking primitives. The nesting of these lock types and the implications of them on RT enabled kernels is nowhere documented. Add initial documentation. Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner --- V2: Addressed review comments from Randy --- Documentation/locking/index.rst | 1 Documentation/locking/locktypes.rst | 298 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 299 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/locking/locktypes.rst --- a/Documentation/locking/index.rst +++ b/Documentation/locking/index.rst @@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ locking .. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 + locktypes lockdep-design lockstat locktorture --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/locking/locktypes.rst @@ -0,0 +1,298 @@ +.. _kernel_hacking_locktypes: + +========================== +Lock types and their rules +========================== + +Introduction +============ + +The kernel provides a variety of locking primitives which can be divided +into two categories: + + - Sleeping locks + - Spinning locks + +This document describes the lock types at least at the conceptual level and +provides rules for nesting of lock types also under the aspect of PREEMPT_RT. + +Lock categories +=============== + +Sleeping locks +-------------- + +Sleeping locks can only be acquired in preemptible task context. + +Some of the implementations allow try_lock() attempts from other contexts, +but that has to be really evaluated carefully including the question +whether the unlock can be done from that context safely as well. + +Note that some lock types change their implementation details when +debugging is enabled, so this should be really only considered if there is +no other option. + +Sleeping lock types: + + - mutex + - rt_mutex + - semaphore + - rw_semaphore + - ww_mutex + - percpu_rw_semaphore + +On a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel the following lock types are converted to +sleeping locks: + + - spinlock_t + - rwlock_t + +Spinning locks +-------------- + + - raw_spinlock_t + - bit spinlocks + +On a non PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel the following lock types are spinning +locks as well: + + - spinlock_t + - rwlock_t + +Spinning locks implicitly disable preemption and the lock / unlock functions +can have suffixes which apply further protections: + + =================== ==================================================== + _bh() Disable / enable bottom halves (soft interrupts) + _irq() Disable / enable interrupts + _irqsave/restore() Save and disable / restore interrupt disabled state + =================== ==================================================== + + +rtmutex +======= + +RT-mutexes are mutexes with support for priority inheritance (PI). + +PI has limitations on non PREEMPT_RT enabled kernels due to preemption and +interrupt disabled sections. + +On a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel most of these sections are fully +preemptible. This is possible because PREEMPT_RT forces most executions +into task context, especially interrupt handlers and soft interrupts, which +allows to substitute spinlock_t and rwlock_t with RT-mutex based +implementations. + + +raw_spinlock_t and spinlock_t +============================= + +raw_spinlock_t +-------------- + +raw_spinlock_t is a strict spinning lock implementation regardless of the +kernel configuration including PREEMPT_RT enabled kernels. + +raw_spinlock_t is to be used only in real critical core code, low level +interrupt handling and places where protecting (hardware) state is required +to be safe against preemption and eventually interrupts. + +Another reason to use raw_spinlock_t is when the critical section is tiny +to avoid the overhead of spinlock_t on a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel in the +contended case. + +spinlock_t +---------- + +The semantics of spinlock_t change with the state of CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT. + +On a non PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel spinlock_t is mapped to raw_spinlock_t +and has exactly the same semantics. + +spinlock_t and PREEMPT_RT +------------------------- + +On a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel spinlock_t is mapped to a separate +implementation based on rt_mutex which changes the semantics: + + - Preemption is not disabled + + - The hard interrupt related suffixes for spin_lock / spin_unlock + operations (_irq, _irqsave / _irqrestore) do not affect the CPUs + interrupt disabled state + + - The soft interrupt related suffix (_bh()) is still disabling the + execution of soft interrupts, but contrary to a non PREEMPT_RT enabled + kernel, which utilizes the preemption count, this is achieved by a per + CPU bottom half locking mechanism. + +All other semantics of spinlock_t are preserved: + + - Migration of tasks which hold a spinlock_t is prevented. On a non + PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel this is implicit due to preemption disable. + PREEMPT_RT has a separate mechanism to achieve this. This ensures that + pointers to per CPU variables stay valid even if the task is preempted. + + - Task state preservation. The task state is not affected when a lock is + contended and the task has to schedule out and wait for the lock to + become available. The lock wake up restores the task state unless there + was a regular (not lock related) wake up on the task. This ensures that + the task state rules are always correct independent of the kernel + configuration. + +rwlock_t +======== + +rwlock_t is a multiple readers and single writer lock mechanism. + +On a non PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel rwlock_t is implemented as a spinning +lock and the suffix rules of spinlock_t apply accordingly. The +implementation is fair and prevents writer starvation. + +rwlock_t and PREEMPT_RT +----------------------- + +On a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel rwlock_t is mapped to a separate +implementation based on rt_mutex which changes the semantics: + + - Same changes as for spinlock_t + + - The implementation is not fair and can cause writer starvation under + certain circumstances. The reason for this is that a writer cannot grant + its priority to multiple readers. Readers which are blocked on a writer + fully support the priority inheritance protocol. + + +PREEMPT_RT caveats +================== + +spinlock_t and rwlock_t +----------------------- + +The substitution of spinlock_t and rwlock_t on PREEMPT_RT enabled kernels +with RT-mutex based implementations has a few implications. + +On a non PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel the following code construct is +perfectly fine:: + + local_irq_disable(); + spin_lock(&lock); + +and fully equivalent to:: + + spin_lock_irq(&lock); + +Same applies to rwlock_t and the _irqsave() suffix variant. + +On a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel this breaks because the RT-mutex +substitution expects a fully preemptible context. + +The preferred solution is to use :c:func:`spin_lock_irq()` or +:c:func:`spin_lock_irqsave()` and their unlock counterparts. + +PREEMPT_RT also offers a local_lock mechanism to substitute the +local_irq_disable/save() constructs in cases where a separation of the +interrupt disabling and the locking is really unavoidable. This should be +restricted to very rare cases. + + +raw_spinlock_t +-------------- + +Locking of a raw_spinlock_t disables preemption and eventually interrupts. +Therefore code inside the critical region has to be careful to avoid calls +into code which takes a regular spinlock_t or rwlock_t. A prime example is +memory allocation. + +On a non PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel the following code construct is +perfectly fine code:: + + raw_spin_lock(&lock); + p = kmalloc(sizeof(*p), GFP_ATOMIC); + +On a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel this breaks because the memory allocator is +fully preemptible and therefore does not support allocations from truly +atomic contexts. + +Contrary to that the following code construct is perfectly fine on +PREEMPT_RT as spin_lock() does not disable preemption:: + + spin_lock(&lock); + p = kmalloc(sizeof(*p), GFP_ATOMIC); + +Most places which use GFP_ATOMIC allocations are safe on PREEMPT_RT as the +execution is forced into thread context and the lock substitution is +ensuring preemptibility. + + +bit spinlocks +------------- + +Bit spinlocks are problematic for PREEMPT_RT as they cannot be easily +substituted by an RT-mutex based implementation for obvious reasons. + +The semantics of bit spinlocks are preserved on a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel +and the caveats vs. raw_spinlock_t apply. + +Some bit spinlocks are substituted by regular spinlock_t for PREEMPT_RT but +this requires conditional (#ifdef'ed) code changes at the usage side while +the spinlock_t substitution is simply done by the compiler and the +conditionals are restricted to header files and core implementation of the +locking primitives and the usage sites do not require any changes. + + +Lock type nesting rules +======================= + +The most basic rules are: + + - Lock types of the same lock category (sleeping, spinning) can nest + arbitrarily as long as they respect the general lock ordering rules to + prevent deadlocks. + + - Sleeping lock types cannot nest inside spinning lock types. + + - Spinning lock types can nest inside sleeping lock types. + +These rules apply in general independent of CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT. + +As PREEMPT_RT changes the lock category of spinlock_t and rwlock_t from +spinning to sleeping this has obviously restrictions how they can nest with +raw_spinlock_t. + +This results in the following nest ordering: + + 1) Sleeping locks + 2) spinlock_t and rwlock_t + 3) raw_spinlock_t and bit spinlocks + +Lockdep is aware of these constraints to ensure that they are respected. + + +Owner semantics +=============== + +Most lock types in the Linux kernel have strict owner semantics, i.e. the +context (task) which acquires a lock has to release it. + +There are two exceptions: + + - semaphores + - rwsems + +semaphores have no strict owner semantics for historical reasons. They are +often used for both serialization and waiting purposes. That's generally +discouraged and should be replaced by separate serialization and wait +mechanisms. + +rwsems have grown interfaces which allow non owner release for special +purposes. This usage is problematic on PREEMPT_RT because PREEMPT_RT +substitutes all locking primitives except semaphores with RT-mutex based +implementations to provide priority inheritance for all lock types except +the truly spinning ones. Priority inheritance on ownerless locks is +obviously impossible. + +For now the rwsem non-owner release excludes code which utilizes it from +being used on PREEMPT_RT enabled kernels. In same cases this can be +mitigated by disabling portions of the code, in other cases the complete +functionality has to be disabled until a workable solution has been found. From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=3.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,SIGNED_OFF_BY,SPF_HELO_NONE,SPF_PASS autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.0 Received: from mail.kernel.org (mail.kernel.org [198.145.29.99]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F27E9C4332D for ; Wed, 18 Mar 2020 21:16:03 +0000 (UTC) Received: from lists.ozlabs.org (lists.ozlabs.org [203.11.71.2]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mail.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 7FE9E20772 for ; Wed, 18 Mar 2020 21:16:03 +0000 (UTC) DMARC-Filter: OpenDMARC Filter v1.3.2 mail.kernel.org 7FE9E20772 Authentication-Results: mail.kernel.org; dmarc=none (p=none dis=none) header.from=linutronix.de Authentication-Results: mail.kernel.org; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=linuxppc-dev-bounces+linuxppc-dev=archiver.kernel.org@lists.ozlabs.org Received: from lists.ozlabs.org (lists.ozlabs.org [IPv6:2401:3900:2:1::3]) by lists.ozlabs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 48jNB86nzKzDr2j for ; Thu, 19 Mar 2020 08:16:00 +1100 (AEDT) Authentication-Results: lists.ozlabs.org; spf=none (no SPF record) smtp.mailfrom=linutronix.de (client-ip=2a0a:51c0:0:12e:550::1; helo=galois.linutronix.de; envelope-from=tglx@linutronix.de; receiver=) Authentication-Results: lists.ozlabs.org; dmarc=none (p=none dis=none) header.from=linutronix.de Received: from Galois.linutronix.de (Galois.linutronix.de [IPv6:2a0a:51c0:0:12e:550::1]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by lists.ozlabs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 48jMXp5GZFzDqx9 for ; Thu, 19 Mar 2020 07:47:06 +1100 (AEDT) Received: from p5de0bf0b.dip0.t-ipconnect.de ([93.224.191.11] helo=nanos.tec.linutronix.de) by Galois.linutronix.de with esmtpsa (TLS1.2:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA256:256) (Exim 4.80) (envelope-from ) id 1jEfaM-00066P-DH; Wed, 18 Mar 2020 21:46:42 +0100 Received: from nanos.tec.linutronix.de (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by nanos.tec.linutronix.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id D1C191040D0; Wed, 18 Mar 2020 21:46:36 +0100 (CET) Message-Id: <20200318204408.211530902@linutronix.de> User-Agent: quilt/0.65 Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2020 21:43:10 +0100 From: Thomas Gleixner To: LKML Subject: [patch V2 08/15] Documentation: Add lock ordering and nesting documentation References: <20200318204302.693307984@linutronix.de> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-Linutronix-Spam-Score: -1.0 X-Linutronix-Spam-Level: - X-Linutronix-Spam-Status: No , -1.0 points, 5.0 required, ALL_TRUSTED=-1, SHORTCIRCUIT=-0.0001 X-BeenThere: linuxppc-dev@lists.ozlabs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: Linux on PowerPC Developers Mail List List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: Randy Dunlap , Peter Zijlstra , linux-pci@vger.kernel.org, Sebastian Andrzej Siewior , Joel Fernandes , Will Deacon , Ingo Molnar , Davidlohr Bueso , Arnd Bergmann , Logan Gunthorpe , "Paul E . McKenney" , linuxppc-dev@lists.ozlabs.org, Steven Rostedt , Bjorn Helgaas , Kurt Schwemmer , Kalle Valo , Felipe Balbi , Greg Kroah-Hartman , linux-usb@vger.kernel.org, linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org, Oleg Nesterov , netdev@vger.kernel.org, Linus Torvalds , "David S. Miller" Errors-To: linuxppc-dev-bounces+linuxppc-dev=archiver.kernel.org@lists.ozlabs.org Sender: "Linuxppc-dev" From: Thomas Gleixner The kernel provides a variety of locking primitives. The nesting of these lock types and the implications of them on RT enabled kernels is nowhere documented. Add initial documentation. Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner --- V2: Addressed review comments from Randy --- Documentation/locking/index.rst | 1 Documentation/locking/locktypes.rst | 298 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 299 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/locking/locktypes.rst --- a/Documentation/locking/index.rst +++ b/Documentation/locking/index.rst @@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ locking .. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 + locktypes lockdep-design lockstat locktorture --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/locking/locktypes.rst @@ -0,0 +1,298 @@ +.. _kernel_hacking_locktypes: + +========================== +Lock types and their rules +========================== + +Introduction +============ + +The kernel provides a variety of locking primitives which can be divided +into two categories: + + - Sleeping locks + - Spinning locks + +This document describes the lock types at least at the conceptual level and +provides rules for nesting of lock types also under the aspect of PREEMPT_RT. + +Lock categories +=============== + +Sleeping locks +-------------- + +Sleeping locks can only be acquired in preemptible task context. + +Some of the implementations allow try_lock() attempts from other contexts, +but that has to be really evaluated carefully including the question +whether the unlock can be done from that context safely as well. + +Note that some lock types change their implementation details when +debugging is enabled, so this should be really only considered if there is +no other option. + +Sleeping lock types: + + - mutex + - rt_mutex + - semaphore + - rw_semaphore + - ww_mutex + - percpu_rw_semaphore + +On a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel the following lock types are converted to +sleeping locks: + + - spinlock_t + - rwlock_t + +Spinning locks +-------------- + + - raw_spinlock_t + - bit spinlocks + +On a non PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel the following lock types are spinning +locks as well: + + - spinlock_t + - rwlock_t + +Spinning locks implicitly disable preemption and the lock / unlock functions +can have suffixes which apply further protections: + + =================== ==================================================== + _bh() Disable / enable bottom halves (soft interrupts) + _irq() Disable / enable interrupts + _irqsave/restore() Save and disable / restore interrupt disabled state + =================== ==================================================== + + +rtmutex +======= + +RT-mutexes are mutexes with support for priority inheritance (PI). + +PI has limitations on non PREEMPT_RT enabled kernels due to preemption and +interrupt disabled sections. + +On a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel most of these sections are fully +preemptible. This is possible because PREEMPT_RT forces most executions +into task context, especially interrupt handlers and soft interrupts, which +allows to substitute spinlock_t and rwlock_t with RT-mutex based +implementations. + + +raw_spinlock_t and spinlock_t +============================= + +raw_spinlock_t +-------------- + +raw_spinlock_t is a strict spinning lock implementation regardless of the +kernel configuration including PREEMPT_RT enabled kernels. + +raw_spinlock_t is to be used only in real critical core code, low level +interrupt handling and places where protecting (hardware) state is required +to be safe against preemption and eventually interrupts. + +Another reason to use raw_spinlock_t is when the critical section is tiny +to avoid the overhead of spinlock_t on a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel in the +contended case. + +spinlock_t +---------- + +The semantics of spinlock_t change with the state of CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT. + +On a non PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel spinlock_t is mapped to raw_spinlock_t +and has exactly the same semantics. + +spinlock_t and PREEMPT_RT +------------------------- + +On a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel spinlock_t is mapped to a separate +implementation based on rt_mutex which changes the semantics: + + - Preemption is not disabled + + - The hard interrupt related suffixes for spin_lock / spin_unlock + operations (_irq, _irqsave / _irqrestore) do not affect the CPUs + interrupt disabled state + + - The soft interrupt related suffix (_bh()) is still disabling the + execution of soft interrupts, but contrary to a non PREEMPT_RT enabled + kernel, which utilizes the preemption count, this is achieved by a per + CPU bottom half locking mechanism. + +All other semantics of spinlock_t are preserved: + + - Migration of tasks which hold a spinlock_t is prevented. On a non + PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel this is implicit due to preemption disable. + PREEMPT_RT has a separate mechanism to achieve this. This ensures that + pointers to per CPU variables stay valid even if the task is preempted. + + - Task state preservation. The task state is not affected when a lock is + contended and the task has to schedule out and wait for the lock to + become available. The lock wake up restores the task state unless there + was a regular (not lock related) wake up on the task. This ensures that + the task state rules are always correct independent of the kernel + configuration. + +rwlock_t +======== + +rwlock_t is a multiple readers and single writer lock mechanism. + +On a non PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel rwlock_t is implemented as a spinning +lock and the suffix rules of spinlock_t apply accordingly. The +implementation is fair and prevents writer starvation. + +rwlock_t and PREEMPT_RT +----------------------- + +On a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel rwlock_t is mapped to a separate +implementation based on rt_mutex which changes the semantics: + + - Same changes as for spinlock_t + + - The implementation is not fair and can cause writer starvation under + certain circumstances. The reason for this is that a writer cannot grant + its priority to multiple readers. Readers which are blocked on a writer + fully support the priority inheritance protocol. + + +PREEMPT_RT caveats +================== + +spinlock_t and rwlock_t +----------------------- + +The substitution of spinlock_t and rwlock_t on PREEMPT_RT enabled kernels +with RT-mutex based implementations has a few implications. + +On a non PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel the following code construct is +perfectly fine:: + + local_irq_disable(); + spin_lock(&lock); + +and fully equivalent to:: + + spin_lock_irq(&lock); + +Same applies to rwlock_t and the _irqsave() suffix variant. + +On a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel this breaks because the RT-mutex +substitution expects a fully preemptible context. + +The preferred solution is to use :c:func:`spin_lock_irq()` or +:c:func:`spin_lock_irqsave()` and their unlock counterparts. + +PREEMPT_RT also offers a local_lock mechanism to substitute the +local_irq_disable/save() constructs in cases where a separation of the +interrupt disabling and the locking is really unavoidable. This should be +restricted to very rare cases. + + +raw_spinlock_t +-------------- + +Locking of a raw_spinlock_t disables preemption and eventually interrupts. +Therefore code inside the critical region has to be careful to avoid calls +into code which takes a regular spinlock_t or rwlock_t. A prime example is +memory allocation. + +On a non PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel the following code construct is +perfectly fine code:: + + raw_spin_lock(&lock); + p = kmalloc(sizeof(*p), GFP_ATOMIC); + +On a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel this breaks because the memory allocator is +fully preemptible and therefore does not support allocations from truly +atomic contexts. + +Contrary to that the following code construct is perfectly fine on +PREEMPT_RT as spin_lock() does not disable preemption:: + + spin_lock(&lock); + p = kmalloc(sizeof(*p), GFP_ATOMIC); + +Most places which use GFP_ATOMIC allocations are safe on PREEMPT_RT as the +execution is forced into thread context and the lock substitution is +ensuring preemptibility. + + +bit spinlocks +------------- + +Bit spinlocks are problematic for PREEMPT_RT as they cannot be easily +substituted by an RT-mutex based implementation for obvious reasons. + +The semantics of bit spinlocks are preserved on a PREEMPT_RT enabled kernel +and the caveats vs. raw_spinlock_t apply. + +Some bit spinlocks are substituted by regular spinlock_t for PREEMPT_RT but +this requires conditional (#ifdef'ed) code changes at the usage side while +the spinlock_t substitution is simply done by the compiler and the +conditionals are restricted to header files and core implementation of the +locking primitives and the usage sites do not require any changes. + + +Lock type nesting rules +======================= + +The most basic rules are: + + - Lock types of the same lock category (sleeping, spinning) can nest + arbitrarily as long as they respect the general lock ordering rules to + prevent deadlocks. + + - Sleeping lock types cannot nest inside spinning lock types. + + - Spinning lock types can nest inside sleeping lock types. + +These rules apply in general independent of CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT. + +As PREEMPT_RT changes the lock category of spinlock_t and rwlock_t from +spinning to sleeping this has obviously restrictions how they can nest with +raw_spinlock_t. + +This results in the following nest ordering: + + 1) Sleeping locks + 2) spinlock_t and rwlock_t + 3) raw_spinlock_t and bit spinlocks + +Lockdep is aware of these constraints to ensure that they are respected. + + +Owner semantics +=============== + +Most lock types in the Linux kernel have strict owner semantics, i.e. the +context (task) which acquires a lock has to release it. + +There are two exceptions: + + - semaphores + - rwsems + +semaphores have no strict owner semantics for historical reasons. They are +often used for both serialization and waiting purposes. That's generally +discouraged and should be replaced by separate serialization and wait +mechanisms. + +rwsems have grown interfaces which allow non owner release for special +purposes. This usage is problematic on PREEMPT_RT because PREEMPT_RT +substitutes all locking primitives except semaphores with RT-mutex based +implementations to provide priority inheritance for all lock types except +the truly spinning ones. Priority inheritance on ownerless locks is +obviously impossible. + +For now the rwsem non-owner release excludes code which utilizes it from +being used on PREEMPT_RT enabled kernels. In same cases this can be +mitigated by disabling portions of the code, in other cases the complete +functionality has to be disabled until a workable solution has been found.