Adding crossreference target for some headers, answer of quizzes Signed-off-by: Phong Tran <tranmanphong@xxxxxxxxx> --- Documentation/RCU/whatisRCU.rst | 73 +++++++++++++++++++++++---------- 1 file changed, 52 insertions(+), 21 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/whatisRCU.rst b/Documentation/RCU/whatisRCU.rst index 70d0e4c21917..ae40c8bcc56c 100644 --- a/Documentation/RCU/whatisRCU.rst +++ b/Documentation/RCU/whatisRCU.rst @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ -.. _rcu_doc: +.. _whatisrcu_doc: What is RCU? -- "Read, Copy, Update" ====================================== @@ -27,14 +27,21 @@ the experience has been that different people must take different paths to arrive at an understanding of RCU. This document provides several different paths, as follows: -1. RCU OVERVIEW -2. WHAT IS RCU'S CORE API? -3. WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLE USES OF CORE RCU API? -4. WHAT IF MY UPDATING THREAD CANNOT BLOCK? -5. WHAT ARE SOME SIMPLE IMPLEMENTATIONS OF RCU? -6. ANALOGY WITH READER-WRITER LOCKING -7. FULL LIST OF RCU APIs -8. ANSWERS TO QUICK QUIZZES +:ref:`1. RCU OVERVIEW <1_whatisRCU>` + +:ref:`2. WHAT IS RCU'S CORE API? <2_whatisRCU>` + +:ref:`3. WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLE USES OF CORE RCU API? <3_whatisRCU>` + +:ref:`4. WHAT IF MY UPDATING THREAD CANNOT BLOCK? <4_whatisRCU>` + +:ref:`5. WHAT ARE SOME SIMPLE IMPLEMENTATIONS OF RCU? <5_whatisRCU>` + +:ref:`6. ANALOGY WITH READER-WRITER LOCKING <6_whatisRCU>` + +:ref:`7. FULL LIST OF RCU APIs <7_whatisRCU>` + +:ref:`8. ANSWERS TO QUICK QUIZZES <8_whatisRCU>` People who prefer starting with a conceptual overview should focus on Section 1, though most readers will profit by reading this section at @@ -52,6 +59,7 @@ everything, feel free to read the whole thing -- but if you are really that type of person, you have perused the source code and will therefore never need this document anyway. ;-) +.. _1_whatisRCU: 1. RCU OVERVIEW ---------------- @@ -120,6 +128,7 @@ So how the heck can a reclaimer tell when a reader is done, given that readers are not doing any sort of synchronization operations??? Read on to learn about how RCU's API makes this easy. +.. _2_whatisRCU: 2. WHAT IS RCU'S CORE API? --------------------------- @@ -381,13 +390,15 @@ c. RCU applied to scheduler and interrupt/NMI-handler tasks. Again, most uses will be of (a). The (b) and (c) cases are important for specialized uses, but are relatively uncommon. +.. _3_whatisRCU: 3. WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLE USES OF CORE RCU API? ----------------------------------------------- This section shows a simple use of the core RCU API to protect a global pointer to a dynamically allocated structure. More-typical -uses of RCU may be found in listRCU.txt, arrayRCU.txt, and NMI-RCU.txt. +uses of RCU may be found in :ref:`listRCU.rst <list_rcu_doc>`, +:ref:`arrayRCU.rst <array_rcu_doc>`, and :ref:`NMI-RCU.rst <NMI_rcu_doc>`. :: struct foo { @@ -470,9 +481,11 @@ o Use synchronize_rcu() -after- removing a data element from an data item. See checklist.txt for additional rules to follow when using RCU. -And again, more-typical uses of RCU may be found in listRCU.txt, -arrayRCU.txt, and NMI-RCU.txt. +And again, more-typical uses of RCU may be found in :ref:`listRCU.rst +<list_rcu_doc>`, :ref:`arrayRCU.rst <array_rcu_doc>`, and :ref:`NMI-RCU.rst +<NMI_rcu_doc>`. +.. _4_whatisRCU: 4. WHAT IF MY UPDATING THREAD CANNOT BLOCK? -------------------------------------------- @@ -567,6 +580,7 @@ to avoid having to write your own callback:: Again, see checklist.txt for additional rules governing the use of RCU. +.. _5_whatisRCU: 5. WHAT ARE SOME SIMPLE IMPLEMENTATIONS OF RCU? ------------------------------------------------ @@ -657,10 +671,12 @@ that the only thing that can block rcu_read_lock() is a synchronize_rcu(). But synchronize_rcu() does not acquire any locks while holding rcu_gp_mutex, so there can be no deadlock cycle. -Quick Quiz #1: Why is this argument naive? How could a deadlock +Quick Quiz #1: + Why is this argument naive? How could a deadlock occur when using this algorithm in a real-world Linux kernel? How could this deadlock be avoided? +:ref:`Answers to Quick Quiz <8_whatisRCU>` 5B. "TOY" EXAMPLE #2: CLASSIC RCU @@ -709,13 +725,20 @@ synchronize_rcu(). Once synchronize_rcu() returns, we are guaranteed that there are no RCU read-side critical sections holding a reference to that data item, so we can safely reclaim it. -Quick Quiz #2: Give an example where Classic RCU's read-side +Quick Quiz #2: + Give an example where Classic RCU's read-side overhead is -negative-. -Quick Quiz #3: If it is illegal to block in an RCU read-side +:ref:`Answers to Quick Quiz <8_whatisRCU>` + +Quick Quiz #3: + If it is illegal to block in an RCU read-side critical section, what the heck do you do in PREEMPT_RT, where normal spinlocks can block??? +:ref:`Answers to Quick Quiz <8_whatisRCU>` + +.. _6_whatisRCU: 6. ANALOGY WITH READER-WRITER LOCKING -------------------------------------- @@ -842,6 +865,7 @@ delete() can now block. If this is a problem, there is a callback-based mechanism that never blocks, namely call_rcu() or kfree_rcu(), that can be used in place of synchronize_rcu(). +.. _7_whatisRCU: 7. FULL LIST OF RCU APIs ------------------------- @@ -1001,16 +1025,19 @@ g. Otherwise, use RCU. Of course, this all assumes that you have determined that RCU is in fact the right tool for your job. +.. _8_whatisRCU: 8. ANSWERS TO QUICK QUIZZES ---------------------------- -Quick Quiz #1: Why is this argument naive? How could a deadlock +Quick Quiz #1: + Why is this argument naive? How could a deadlock occur when using this algorithm in a real-world Linux kernel? [Referring to the lock-based "toy" RCU algorithm.] -Answer: Consider the following sequence of events: +Answer: + Consider the following sequence of events: 1. CPU 0 acquires some unrelated lock, call it "problematic_lock", disabling irq via @@ -1049,10 +1076,12 @@ Answer: Consider the following sequence of events: approach where tasks in RCU read-side critical sections cannot be blocked by tasks executing synchronize_rcu(). -Quick Quiz #2: Give an example where Classic RCU's read-side +Quick Quiz #2: + Give an example where Classic RCU's read-side overhead is -negative-. -Answer: Imagine a single-CPU system with a non-CONFIG_PREEMPT +Answer: + Imagine a single-CPU system with a non-CONFIG_PREEMPT kernel where a routing table is used by process-context code, but can be updated by irq-context code (for example, by an "ICMP REDIRECT" packet). The usual way of handling @@ -1074,11 +1103,13 @@ Answer: Imagine a single-CPU system with a non-CONFIG_PREEMPT even the theoretical possibility of negative overhead for a synchronization primitive is a bit unexpected. ;-) -Quick Quiz #3: If it is illegal to block in an RCU read-side +Quick Quiz #3: + If it is illegal to block in an RCU read-side critical section, what the heck do you do in PREEMPT_RT, where normal spinlocks can block??? -Answer: Just as PREEMPT_RT permits preemption of spinlock +Answer: + Just as PREEMPT_RT permits preemption of spinlock critical sections, it permits preemption of RCU read-side critical sections. It also permits spinlocks blocking while in RCU read-side critical -- 2.20.1