In this patchset, we introduce two optimizations to read write semaphore. The first optimization reduces cache bouncing of the sem->count field by doing a pre-read of the lock status (i.e. sem->count) and avoid cmpxchg if possible. The second optimization introduces similar optimistic spining logic in the mutex code for the writer lock acquisition of rw-sem. Combining the two patches, in testing by Davidlohr Bueso on aim7 workloads on 8 socket 80 cores system, he saw improvements of alltests (+14.5%), custom (+17%), disk (+11%), high_systime (+5%), shared (+15%) and short (+4%), most of them after around 500 users when i_mmap was implemented as rwsem. Feed-backs on the effectiveness of these tweaks on other workloads will be appreciated. Thanks to Peter Hurley for reviewing the first version of this patchset. I have left the optimistic spinning on write lock acquisition not as a default option. I'll like people's opinion to see if it should be on by default to get more testing. Changelog: v2: 1. Reorganize changes to down_write_trylock and do_wake into 4 patches and fixed a bug referencing &sem->count when sem->count is intended. 2. Fix unsafe sem->owner de-reference in rwsem_can_spin_on_owner. the option to be on for more seasoning but can be turned off should it be detrimental. 3. Various patch comments update Alex Shi (4): rwsem: check the lock before cpmxchg in down_write_trylock rwsem: remove 'out' label in do_wake rwsem: remove try_reader_grant label do_wake rwsem/wake: check lock before do atomic update Tim Chen (1): rwsem: do optimistic spinning for writer lock acquisition include/asm-generic/rwsem.h | 8 +- include/linux/rwsem.h | 3 + init/Kconfig | 9 ++ kernel/rwsem.c | 29 +++++++- lib/rwsem.c | 175 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----- 5 files changed, 199 insertions(+), 25 deletions(-) -- 1.7.4.4 -- To unsubscribe, send a message with 'unsubscribe linux-mm' in the body to majordomo@xxxxxxxxx. For more info on Linux MM, see: http://www.linux-mm.org/ . Don't email: <a href=mailto:"dont@xxxxxxxxx";> email@xxxxxxxxx </a>