Re: [PATCH 0/6] kernfs: proposed locking and concurrency improvement

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On Mon, 2021-01-11 at 17:02 +0800, Fox Chen wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 11, 2021 at 4:42 PM Ian Kent <raven@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > On Mon, 2021-01-11 at 15:04 +0800, Fox Chen wrote:
> > > On Mon, Jan 11, 2021 at 12:20 PM Ian Kent <raven@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > > wrote:
> > > > On Mon, 2021-01-11 at 11:19 +0800, Ian Kent wrote:
> > > > > On Wed, 2021-01-06 at 10:38 +0800, Fox Chen wrote:
> > > > > > Hi Ian,
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I am rethinking this problem. Can we simply use a global
> > > > > > lock?
> > > > > > 
> > > > > >  In your original patch 5, you have a global mutex
> > > > > > attr_mutex
> > > > > > to
> > > > > > protect attr, if we change it to a rwsem, is it enough to
> > > > > > protect
> > > > > > both
> > > > > > inode and attr while having the concurrent read ability?
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > like this patch I submitted. ( clearly, I missed
> > > > > > __kernfs_iattrs
> > > > > > part,
> > > > > > but just about that idea )
> > > > > > https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20201207084333.179132-1-foxhlchen@xxxxxxxxx/
> > > > > 
> > > > > I don't think so.
> > > > > 
> > > > > kernfs_refresh_inode() writes to the inode so taking a read
> > > > > lock
> > > > > will allow multiple processes to concurrently update it which
> > > > > is
> > > > > what we need to avoid.
> > > 
> > > Oh, got it. I missed the inode part. my bad. :(
> > > 
> > > > > It's possibly even more interesting.
> > > > > 
> > > > > For example, kernfs_iop_rmdir() and kernfs_iop_mkdir() might
> > > > > alter
> > > > > the inode link count (I don't know if that would be the sort
> > > > > of
> > > > > thing
> > > > > they would do but kernfs can't possibly know either). Both of
> > > > > these
> > > > > functions rely on the VFS locking for exclusion but the inode
> > > > > link
> > > > > count is updated in kernfs_refresh_inode() too.
> > > > > 
> > > > > That's the case now, without any patches.
> > > > 
> > > > So it's not so easy to get the inode from just the kernfs
> > > > object
> > > > so these probably aren't a problem ...
> > > 
> > > IIUC only when dop->revalidate, iop->lookup being called, the
> > > result
> > > of rmdir/mkdir will be sync with vfs.
> > 
> > Don't quite get what you mean here?
> > 
> > Do you mean something like, VFS objects are created on user access
> > to the file system. Given that user access generally means path
> > resolution possibly followed by some operation.
> > 
> > I guess those VFS objects will go away some time after the access
> > but even thought the code looks like that should happen pretty
> > quickly after I've observed that these objects stay around longer
> > than expected. There wouldn't be any use in maintaining a least
> > recently used list of dentry candidates eligible to discard.
> 
> Yes, that is what I meant. I think the duration may depend on the
> current ram pressure. though not quite sure, I'm still digging this
> part of code.

The dentries on the LRU list are the ones that will get pruned
for things like memory pressure and drop caches invocations.

But it's a bit hard to grok that because it happens separately
so it's not something you pick up (if your like me) from linearly
scanning the code.

Ian

> 
> > > kernfs_node is detached from vfs inode/dentry to save ram.
> > > 
> > > > > I'm not entirely sure what's going on in
> > > > > kernfs_refresh_inode().
> > > > > 
> > > > > It could be as simple as being called with a NULL inode
> > > > > because
> > > > > the dentry concerned is negative at that point. I haven't had
> > > > > time to look closely at it TBH but I have been thinking about
> > > > > it.
> > > 
> > > um, It shouldn't be called with a NULL inode, right?
> > > 
> > > inode->i_mode = kn->mode;
> > > 
> > > otherwise will crash.
> > 
> > Yes, you're right about that.
> > 
> > > > Certainly this can be called without a struct iattr having been
> > > > allocated ... and given it probably needs to remain a pointer
> > > > rather than embedded in the node the inode link count update
> > > > can't easily be protected from concurrent updates.
> > > > 
> > > > If it was ok to do the allocation at inode creation the problem
> > > > becomes much simpler to resolve but I thought there were
> > > > concerns
> > > > about ram consumption (although I don't think that was exactly
> > > > what
> > > > was said?).
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > you meant iattr to be allocated at inode creation time??
> > > yes, I think so. it's due to ram consumption.
> > 
> > I did, yes.
> > 
> > The actual problem is dealing with multiple concurrent updates to
> > the inode link count, the rest can work.
> > 
> > Ian
> > 
> 
> fox




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