From: "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@kernel.org>
To: rcu@vger.kernel.org
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, kernel-team@fb.com,
mingo@kernel.org, jiangshanlai@gmail.com,
akpm@linux-foundation.org, mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com,
josh@joshtriplett.org, tglx@linutronix.de, peterz@infradead.org,
rostedt@goodmis.org, dhowells@redhat.com, edumazet@google.com,
fweisbec@gmail.com, oleg@redhat.com, joel@joelfernandes.org,
Julian Wiedmann <jwi@linux.ibm.com>,
"Paul E . McKenney" <paulmck@kernel.org>
Subject: [PATCH rcu 06/18] rculist: Unify documentation about missing list_empty_rcu()
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2021 13:21:14 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20210721202127.2129660-6-paulmck@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20210721202042.GA1472052@paulmck-ThinkPad-P17-Gen-1>
From: Julian Wiedmann <jwi@linux.ibm.com>
We have two separate sections that talk about why list_empty_rcu()
is not needed, so this commit consolidates them.
Signed-off-by: Julian Wiedmann <jwi@linux.ibm.com>
[ paulmck: The usual wordsmithing. ]
Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>
---
include/linux/rculist.h | 35 +++++++++++++++++------------------
1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-)
diff --git a/include/linux/rculist.h b/include/linux/rculist.h
index f8633d37e3581..d29740be4833e 100644
--- a/include/linux/rculist.h
+++ b/include/linux/rculist.h
@@ -10,15 +10,6 @@
#include <linux/list.h>
#include <linux/rcupdate.h>
-/*
- * Why is there no list_empty_rcu()? Because list_empty() serves this
- * purpose. The list_empty() function fetches the RCU-protected pointer
- * and compares it to the address of the list head, but neither dereferences
- * this pointer itself nor provides this pointer to the caller. Therefore,
- * it is not necessary to use rcu_dereference(), so that list_empty() can
- * be used anywhere you would want to use a list_empty_rcu().
- */
-
/*
* INIT_LIST_HEAD_RCU - Initialize a list_head visible to RCU readers
* @list: list to be initialized
@@ -318,21 +309,29 @@ static inline void list_splice_tail_init_rcu(struct list_head *list,
/*
* Where are list_empty_rcu() and list_first_entry_rcu()?
*
- * Implementing those functions following their counterparts list_empty() and
- * list_first_entry() is not advisable because they lead to subtle race
- * conditions as the following snippet shows:
+ * They do not exist because they would lead to subtle race conditions:
*
* if (!list_empty_rcu(mylist)) {
* struct foo *bar = list_first_entry_rcu(mylist, struct foo, list_member);
* do_something(bar);
* }
*
- * The list may not be empty when list_empty_rcu checks it, but it may be when
- * list_first_entry_rcu rereads the ->next pointer.
- *
- * Rereading the ->next pointer is not a problem for list_empty() and
- * list_first_entry() because they would be protected by a lock that blocks
- * writers.
+ * The list might be non-empty when list_empty_rcu() checks it, but it
+ * might have become empty by the time that list_first_entry_rcu() rereads
+ * the ->next pointer, which would result in a SEGV.
+ *
+ * When not using RCU, it is OK for list_first_entry() to re-read that
+ * pointer because both functions should be protected by some lock that
+ * blocks writers.
+ *
+ * When using RCU, list_empty() uses READ_ONCE() to fetch the
+ * RCU-protected ->next pointer and then compares it to the address of the
+ * list head. However, it neither dereferences this pointer nor provides
+ * this pointer to its caller. Thus, READ_ONCE() suffices (that is,
+ * rcu_dereference() is not needed), which means that list_empty() can be
+ * used anywhere you would want to use list_empty_rcu(). Just don't
+ * expect anything useful to happen if you do a subsequent lockless
+ * call to list_first_entry_rcu()!!!
*
* See list_first_or_null_rcu for an alternative.
*/
--
2.31.1.189.g2e36527f23
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2021-07-21 20:21 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 66+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2021-07-21 20:20 [PATCH rcu 0/18] Miscellaneous fixes for v5.15 Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 01/18] rcu: Fix to include first blocked task in stall warning Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 02/18] rcu: Fix stall-warning deadlock due to non-release of rcu_node ->lock Paul E. McKenney
2021-08-03 14:24 ` Qais Yousef
2021-08-03 15:52 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-08-03 16:12 ` Qais Yousef
2021-08-03 16:28 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-08-03 16:33 ` Qais Yousef
2021-08-04 13:50 ` Qais Yousef
2021-08-04 22:33 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-08-06 9:56 ` Qais Yousef
2021-08-06 9:57 ` Qais Yousef
2021-08-06 11:43 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-08-06 12:33 ` Qais Yousef
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 03/18] rcu: Remove special bit at the bottom of the ->dynticks counter Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 04/18] rcu: Weaken ->dynticks accesses and updates Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:41 ` Linus Torvalds
2021-07-21 21:25 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-28 17:37 ` [PATCH v2 " Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-28 17:58 ` Linus Torvalds
2021-07-28 18:12 ` Mathieu Desnoyers
2021-07-28 18:32 ` Linus Torvalds
2021-07-28 18:39 ` Mathieu Desnoyers
2021-07-28 18:46 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-28 18:46 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-28 18:57 ` Linus Torvalds
2021-07-28 18:23 ` Mathieu Desnoyers
2021-07-28 18:58 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-28 19:45 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-28 20:03 ` Mathieu Desnoyers
2021-07-28 20:28 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-29 14:41 ` Mathieu Desnoyers
2021-07-29 15:57 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-29 17:41 ` Mathieu Desnoyers
2021-07-29 18:05 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-29 18:42 ` Mathieu Desnoyers
2021-07-28 20:37 ` Josh Triplett
2021-07-28 20:47 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-28 22:23 ` Frederic Weisbecker
2021-07-29 1:07 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-29 7:58 ` [PATCH " Boqun Feng
2021-07-29 10:53 ` Frederic Weisbecker
2021-07-30 5:56 ` Boqun Feng
2021-07-30 17:18 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 05/18] rcu: Mark accesses to ->rcu_read_lock_nesting Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` Paul E. McKenney [this message]
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 07/18] rcu/tree: Handle VM stoppage in stall detection Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 08/18] rcu: Do not disable GP stall detection in rcu_cpu_stall_reset() Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 09/18] rcu: Start timing stall repetitions after warning complete Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 10/18] srcutiny: Mark read-side data races Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-29 8:23 ` Boqun Feng
2021-07-29 13:36 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 11/18] rcu: Mark lockless ->qsmask read in rcu_check_boost_fail() Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-29 8:54 ` Boqun Feng
2021-07-29 14:03 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-30 2:28 ` Boqun Feng
2021-07-30 3:26 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 12/18] rcu: Make rcu_gp_init() and rcu_gp_fqs_loop noinline to conserve stack Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 13/18] rcu: Remove trailing spaces and tabs Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 14/18] rcu: Mark accesses in tree_stall.h Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 15/18] rcu: Remove useless "ret" update in rcu_gp_fqs_loop() Paul E. McKenney
2021-08-03 16:48 ` Joe Perches
2021-08-03 17:10 ` Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 16/18] rcu: Use per_cpu_ptr to get the pointer of per_cpu variable Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 17/18] rcu: Explain why rcu_all_qs() is a stub in preemptible TREE RCU Paul E. McKenney
2021-07-21 20:21 ` [PATCH rcu 18/18] rcu: Print human-readable message for schedule() in RCU reader Paul E. McKenney
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=20210721202127.2129660-6-paulmck@kernel.org \
--to=paulmck@kernel.org \
--cc=akpm@linux-foundation.org \
--cc=dhowells@redhat.com \
--cc=edumazet@google.com \
--cc=fweisbec@gmail.com \
--cc=jiangshanlai@gmail.com \
--cc=joel@joelfernandes.org \
--cc=josh@joshtriplett.org \
--cc=jwi@linux.ibm.com \
--cc=kernel-team@fb.com \
--cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com \
--cc=mingo@kernel.org \
--cc=oleg@redhat.com \
--cc=peterz@infradead.org \
--cc=rcu@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=rostedt@goodmis.org \
--cc=tglx@linutronix.de \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox;
as well as URLs for NNTP newsgroup(s).