121 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
121 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
Using RCU to Protect Dynamic NMI Handlers
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Although RCU is usually used to protect read-mostly data structures,
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it is possible to use RCU to provide dynamic non-maskable interrupt
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handlers, as well as dynamic irq handlers. This document describes
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how to do this, drawing loosely from Zwane Mwaikambo's NMI-timer
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work in "arch/x86/oprofile/nmi_timer_int.c" and in
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"arch/x86/kernel/traps.c".
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The relevant pieces of code are listed below, each followed by a
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brief explanation.
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static int dummy_nmi_callback(struct pt_regs *regs, int cpu)
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{
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return 0;
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}
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The dummy_nmi_callback() function is a "dummy" NMI handler that does
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nothing, but returns zero, thus saying that it did nothing, allowing
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the NMI handler to take the default machine-specific action.
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static nmi_callback_t nmi_callback = dummy_nmi_callback;
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This nmi_callback variable is a global function pointer to the current
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NMI handler.
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void do_nmi(struct pt_regs * regs, long error_code)
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{
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int cpu;
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nmi_enter();
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cpu = smp_processor_id();
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++nmi_count(cpu);
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if (!rcu_dereference_sched(nmi_callback)(regs, cpu))
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default_do_nmi(regs);
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nmi_exit();
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}
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The do_nmi() function processes each NMI. It first disables preemption
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in the same way that a hardware irq would, then increments the per-CPU
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count of NMIs. It then invokes the NMI handler stored in the nmi_callback
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function pointer. If this handler returns zero, do_nmi() invokes the
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default_do_nmi() function to handle a machine-specific NMI. Finally,
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preemption is restored.
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In theory, rcu_dereference_sched() is not needed, since this code runs
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only on i386, which in theory does not need rcu_dereference_sched()
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anyway. However, in practice it is a good documentation aid, particularly
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for anyone attempting to do something similar on Alpha or on systems
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with aggressive optimizing compilers.
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Quick Quiz: Why might the rcu_dereference_sched() be necessary on Alpha,
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given that the code referenced by the pointer is read-only?
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Back to the discussion of NMI and RCU...
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void set_nmi_callback(nmi_callback_t callback)
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{
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rcu_assign_pointer(nmi_callback, callback);
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}
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The set_nmi_callback() function registers an NMI handler. Note that any
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data that is to be used by the callback must be initialized up -before-
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the call to set_nmi_callback(). On architectures that do not order
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writes, the rcu_assign_pointer() ensures that the NMI handler sees the
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initialized values.
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void unset_nmi_callback(void)
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{
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rcu_assign_pointer(nmi_callback, dummy_nmi_callback);
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}
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This function unregisters an NMI handler, restoring the original
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dummy_nmi_handler(). However, there may well be an NMI handler
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currently executing on some other CPU. We therefore cannot free
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up any data structures used by the old NMI handler until execution
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of it completes on all other CPUs.
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One way to accomplish this is via synchronize_sched(), perhaps as
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follows:
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unset_nmi_callback();
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synchronize_sched();
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kfree(my_nmi_data);
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This works because synchronize_sched() blocks until all CPUs complete
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any preemption-disabled segments of code that they were executing.
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Since NMI handlers disable preemption, synchronize_sched() is guaranteed
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not to return until all ongoing NMI handlers exit. It is therefore safe
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to free up the handler's data as soon as synchronize_sched() returns.
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Important note: for this to work, the architecture in question must
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invoke nmi_enter() and nmi_exit() on NMI entry and exit, respectively.
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Answer to Quick Quiz
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Why might the rcu_dereference_sched() be necessary on Alpha, given
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that the code referenced by the pointer is read-only?
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Answer: The caller to set_nmi_callback() might well have
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initialized some data that is to be used by the new NMI
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handler. In this case, the rcu_dereference_sched() would
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be needed, because otherwise a CPU that received an NMI
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just after the new handler was set might see the pointer
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to the new NMI handler, but the old pre-initialized
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version of the handler's data.
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This same sad story can happen on other CPUs when using
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a compiler with aggressive pointer-value speculation
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optimizations.
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More important, the rcu_dereference_sched() makes it
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clear to someone reading the code that the pointer is
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being protected by RCU-sched.
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