On Wed, Mar 05, 2014 at 05:54:59PM +0100, Torvald Riegel wrote:
> On Tue, 2014-03-04 at 13:35 -0800, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> > On Tue, Mar 04, 2014 at 11:00:32AM -0800, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> > > On Mon, Mar 03, 2014 at 09:46:19PM +0100, Torvald Riegel wrote:
> > > > xagsmtp2.20140303204700.3556@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > > X-Xagent-Gateway: vmsdvma.vnet.ibm.com (XAGSMTP2 at VMSDVMA)
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, 2014-03-03 at 11:20 -0800, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> > > > > On Mon, Mar 03, 2014 at 07:55:08PM +0100, Torvald Riegel wrote:
> > > > > > xagsmtp2.20140303190831.9500@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > > > > X-Xagent-Gateway: uk1vsc.vnet.ibm.com (XAGSMTP2 at UK1VSC)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On Fri, 2014-02-28 at 16:50 -0800, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> > > > > > > +o Do not use the results from the boolean "&&" and "||" when
> > > > > > > + dereferencing. For example, the following (rather improbable)
> > > > > > > + code is buggy:
> > > > > > > +
> > > > > > > + int a[2];
> > > > > > > + int index;
> > > > > > > + int force_zero_index = 1;
> > > > > > > +
> > > > > > > + ...
> > > > > > > +
> > > > > > > + r1 = rcu_dereference(i1)
> > > > > > > + r2 = a[r1 && force_zero_index]; /* BUGGY!!! */
> > > > > > > +
> > > > > > > + The reason this is buggy is that "&&" and "||" are often compiled
> > > > > > > + using branches. While weak-memory machines such as ARM or PowerPC
> > > > > > > + do order stores after such branches, they can speculate loads,
> > > > > > > + which can result in misordering bugs.
> > > > > > > +
> > > > > > > +o Do not use the results from relational operators ("==", "!=",
> > > > > > > + ">", ">=", "<", or "<=") when dereferencing. For example,
> > > > > > > + the following (quite strange) code is buggy:
> > > > > > > +
> > > > > > > + int a[2];
> > > > > > > + int index;
> > > > > > > + int flip_index = 0;
> > > > > > > +
> > > > > > > + ...
> > > > > > > +
> > > > > > > + r1 = rcu_dereference(i1)
> > > > > > > + r2 = a[r1 != flip_index]; /* BUGGY!!! */
> > > > > > > +
> > > > > > > + As before, the reason this is buggy is that relational operators
> > > > > > > + are often compiled using branches. And as before, although
> > > > > > > + weak-memory machines such as ARM or PowerPC do order stores
> > > > > > > + after such branches, but can speculate loads, which can again
> > > > > > > + result in misordering bugs.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Those two would be allowed by the wording I have recently proposed,
> > > > > > AFAICS. r1 != flip_index would result in two possible values (unless
> > > > > > there are further constraints due to the type of r1 and the values that
> > > > > > flip_index can have).
> > > > >
> > > > > And I am OK with the value_dep_preserving type providing more/better
> > > > > guarantees than we get by default from current compilers.
> > > > >
> > > > > One question, though. Suppose that the code did not want a value
> > > > > dependency to be tracked through a comparison operator. What does
> > > > > the developer do in that case? (The reason I ask is that I have
> > > > > not yet found a use case in the Linux kernel that expects a value
> > > > > dependency to be tracked through a comparison.)
> > > >
> > > > Hmm. I suppose use an explicit cast to non-vdp before or after the
> > > > comparison?
> > >
> > > That should work well assuming that things like "if", "while", and "?:"
> > > conditions are happy to take a vdp. This assumes that p->a only returns
> > > vdp if field "a" is declared vdp, otherwise we have vdps running wild
> > > through the program. ;-)
> > >
> > > The other thing that can happen is that a vdp can get handed off to
> > > another synchronization mechanism, for example, to reference counting:
> > >
> > > p = atomic_load_explicit(&gp, memory_order_consume);
> > > if (do_something_with(p->a)) {
> > > /* fast path protected by RCU. */
> > > return 0;
> > > }
> > > if (atomic_inc_not_zero(&p->refcnt) {
> > > /* slow path protected by reference counting. */
> > > return do_something_else_with((struct foo *)p); /* CHANGE */
> > > }
> > > /* Needed slow path, but raced with deletion. */
> > > return -EAGAIN;
> > >
> > > I am guessing that the cast ends the vdp. Is that the case?
> >
> > And here is a more elaborate example from the Linux kernel:
> >
> > struct md_rdev value_dep_preserving *rdev; /* CHANGE */
> >
> > rdev = rcu_dereference(conf->mirrors[disk].rdev);
> > if (r1_bio->bios[disk] == IO_BLOCKED
> > || rdev == NULL
> > || test_bit(Unmerged, &rdev->flags)
> > || test_bit(Faulty, &rdev->flags))
> > continue;
> >
> > The fact that the "rdev == NULL" returns vdp does not force the "||"
> > operators to be evaluated arithmetically because the entire function
> > is an "if" condition, correct?
>
> That's a good question, and one that as far as I understand currently,
> essentially boils down to whether we want to have tight restrictions on
> which operations are still vdp.
>
> If we look at the different combinations, then it seems we can't decide
> on whether we have a value-dependency just due to a vdp type:
> * non-vdp || vdp: vdp iff non-vdp == false
> * vdp || non-vdp: vdp iff non-vdp == false?
> * vdp || vdp: always vdp? (and dependency on both?)
>
> I'm not sure it makes sense to try to not make all of those
> vdp-by-default. The first and second case show that it's dependent on
> the specific execution anyway, and thus is already covered by the
> requirement that the value must still matter. The vdp type is just a
> way to prevent inappropriate compiler optimizations; it's not critical
> for correctness is we make more stuff vdp, yet it may prevent some
> optimizations in the affected expression.
>
> If the compiler knows that some vdp-typed evaluation will not have a
> value-dependency anyway, then it can just optimize this evaluation like
> non-vdp code.
>
> I guess not much would change for the code you posted, because we
> already have to evaluate || operands in order, I believe (e.g., don't
> access rdev->flags before doing the rdev == NULL check, modulo as-if).
> Do I understand your question correctly?
Let me give an example for the other side:
struct foo value_dep_preserving *p;
struct foo value_dep_preserving *q;
p = rcu_dereference(gp);
q = rcu_dereference(gq);
return myarray[p || q]]; /* Linux kernel doesn't do this. */
If we wanted this to work (and I am not at all convinced that we do),
the compiler would have to force a data dependency through the "||".
But I would be just as happy to instead just say that boolean logical
operators ("||" and "&&") never return vdp values. Ditto for the
relational operators ("==", "!=", ">", ">=", "<", and "<="). No one
seems to rely on value dependencies via these operators, after all,
and preserving value dependencies through them seems to require that
the compiler generate odd code.
Thanx, Paul
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