Re: [PATCH 2/3] oslat: Add aarch64 support

[nsaenzju@redhat.com]

On Thu, 2021-09-09 at 14:03 -0400, Peter Xu wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 09, 2021 at 12:10:49PM +0200, nsaenzju@redhat.com wrote:
> > On Wed, 2021-09-08 at 14:09 -0400, Peter Xu wrote:
> > > On Wed, Sep 08, 2021 at 12:02:08PM +0200, Nicolas Saenz Julienne wrote:
> > > > The callbacks are based on Linux's implementation:
> > > >  - CNTVCT_EL0 provides direct access to the system virtual timer[1].
> > > >  - 'yield' serves as a CPU hint with similar semantics as x86's
> > > >    'pause'[2].
> > > > 
> > > > [1] See Linux's '__arch_get_hw_counter()' in arch/arm64/include/asm/vdso/gettimeofday.h
> > > > [2] See Linux's 1baa82f4803 ("arm64: Implement cpu_relax as yield").
> > > > Signed-off-by: Nicolas Saenz Julienne <nsaenzju@redhat.com>
> > > > ---
> > > >  src/oslat/oslat.c | 13 +++++++++++++
> > > >  1 file changed, 13 insertions(+)
> > > > 
> > > > diff --git a/src/oslat/oslat.c b/src/oslat/oslat.c
> > > > index a4aa5f1..bd155a6 100644
> > > > --- a/src/oslat/oslat.c
> > > > +++ b/src/oslat/oslat.c
> > > > @@ -71,6 +71,19 @@ static inline void frc(uint64_t *pval)
> > > >  {
> > > >  	__asm__ __volatile__("mfspr %0, 268\n" : "=r" (*pval));
> > > >  }
> > > > +# elif defined(__aarch64__)
> > > > +#  define relax()          __asm__ __volatile("yield" : : : "memory")
> > > > +
> > > > +static inline void frc(uint64_t *pval)
> > > > +{
> > > > +
> > > 
> > > newline to drop?
> > 
> > Noted.
> > 
> > > > +	/*
> > > > +	 * This isb() is required to prevent that the counter value
> > > > +	 * is speculated.
> > > > +	 */
> > > > +	__asm__ __volatile__("isb; mrs %0, cntvct_el0" : "=r" (*pval));
> > > 
> > > I saw that commit 27e11a9fe2e2e added two isbs, one before, one after.  Then
> > > commit 77ec462536a1 replaced the 2nd isb into another magic.  This function
> > > dropped the 2nd barrier.  Also, the same to compiler barrier "memory" that's
> > > gone too.
> > > 
> > > Is it on purpose to drop them?
> > 
> > Yes, I removed it on purpose. VDSO's gettimeofday implementation uses a seqlock
> > to protect against changes to the counter's properties/state: you want to make
> > sure access to the counter register is ordered WRT access to the seqlock
> > protecting it. We don't really care for all this, as we trust our counters to
> > be stable.
> 
> OK, since you've referenced the code, would you mind add these into the commit
> message too?

Will do!

> I also don't understand why you explicitly removed the compiler barrier.  IIUC
> when without it the compiler could move these instructions to be before/after
> other instructions generated in the c code.  That may not really happen in
> practise, but just curious why the explicit removal.

I removed it too as I see no justification for it. There is nothing, except for
the actual timestamp values (which are safe as they come from an mrs), that
could suffer from the compiler prefetching the value, or reordering accesses.
I'll add a comment on the commit message.

-- 
Nicolás Sáenz