aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation/atomic_t.txt
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorLibravatar Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2023-02-21 18:24:12 -0800
committerLibravatar Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2023-02-21 18:24:12 -0800
commit5b7c4cabbb65f5c469464da6c5f614cbd7f730f2 (patch)
treecc5c2d0a898769fd59549594fedb3ee6f84e59a0 /Documentation/atomic_t.txt
downloadlinux-5b7c4cabbb65f5c469464da6c5f614cbd7f730f2.tar.gz
linux-5b7c4cabbb65f5c469464da6c5f614cbd7f730f2.zip
Merge tag 'net-next-6.3' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/netdev/net-nextgrafted
Pull networking updates from Jakub Kicinski: "Core: - Add dedicated kmem_cache for typical/small skb->head, avoid having to access struct page at kfree time, and improve memory use. - Introduce sysctl to set default RPS configuration for new netdevs. - Define Netlink protocol specification format which can be used to describe messages used by each family and auto-generate parsers. Add tools for generating kernel data structures and uAPI headers. - Expose all net/core sysctls inside netns. - Remove 4s sleep in netpoll if carrier is instantly detected on boot. - Add configurable limit of MDB entries per port, and port-vlan. - Continue populating drop reasons throughout the stack. - Retire a handful of legacy Qdiscs and classifiers. Protocols: - Support IPv4 big TCP (TSO frames larger than 64kB). - Add IP_LOCAL_PORT_RANGE socket option, to control local port range on socket by socket basis. - Track and report in procfs number of MPTCP sockets used. - Support mixing IPv4 and IPv6 flows in the in-kernel MPTCP path manager. - IPv6: don't check net.ipv6.route.max_size and rely on garbage collection to free memory (similarly to IPv4). - Support Penultimate Segment Pop (PSP) flavor in SRv6 (RFC8986). - ICMP: add per-rate limit counters. - Add support for user scanning requests in ieee802154. - Remove static WEP support. - Support minimal Wi-Fi 7 Extremely High Throughput (EHT) rate reporting. - WiFi 7 EHT channel puncturing support (client & AP). BPF: - Add a rbtree data structure following the "next-gen data structure" precedent set by recently added linked list, that is, by using kfunc + kptr instead of adding a new BPF map type. - Expose XDP hints via kfuncs with initial support for RX hash and timestamp metadata. - Add BPF_F_NO_TUNNEL_KEY extension to bpf_skb_set_tunnel_key to better support decap on GRE tunnel devices not operating in collect metadata. - Improve x86 JIT's codegen for PROBE_MEM runtime error checks. - Remove the need for trace_printk_lock for bpf_trace_printk and bpf_trace_vprintk helpers. - Extend libbpf's bpf_tracing.h support for tracing arguments of kprobes/uprobes and syscall as a special case. - Significantly reduce the search time for module symbols by livepatch and BPF. - Enable cpumasks to be used as kptrs, which is useful for tracing programs tracking which tasks end up running on which CPUs in different time intervals. - Add support for BPF trampoline on s390x and riscv64. - Add capability to export the XDP features supported by the NIC. - Add __bpf_kfunc tag for marking kernel functions as kfuncs. - Add cgroup.memory=nobpf kernel parameter option to disable BPF memory accounting for container environments. Netfilter: - Remove the CLUSTERIP target. It has been marked as obsolete for years, and we still have WARN splats wrt races of the out-of-band /proc interface installed by this target. - Add 'destroy' commands to nf_tables. They are identical to the existing 'delete' commands, but do not return an error if the referenced object (set, chain, rule...) did not exist. Driver API: - Improve cpumask_local_spread() locality to help NICs set the right IRQ affinity on AMD platforms. - Separate C22 and C45 MDIO bus transactions more clearly. - Introduce new DCB table to control DSCP rewrite on egress. - Support configuration of Physical Layer Collision Avoidance (PLCA) Reconciliation Sublayer (RS) (802.3cg-2019). Modern version of shared medium Ethernet. - Support for MAC Merge layer (IEEE 802.3-2018 clause 99). Allowing preemption of low priority frames by high priority frames. - Add support for controlling MACSec offload using netlink SET. - Rework devlink instance refcounts to allow registration and de-registration under the instance lock. Split the code into multiple files, drop some of the unnecessarily granular locks and factor out common parts of netlink operation handling. - Add TX frame aggregation parameters (for USB drivers). - Add a new attr TCA_EXT_WARN_MSG to report TC (offload) warning messages with notifications for debug. - Allow offloading of UDP NEW connections via act_ct. - Add support for per action HW stats in TC. - Support hardware miss to TC action (continue processing in SW from a specific point in the action chain). - Warn if old Wireless Extension user space interface is used with modern cfg80211/mac80211 drivers. Do not support Wireless Extensions for Wi-Fi 7 devices at all. Everyone should switch to using nl80211 interface instead. - Improve the CAN bit timing configuration. Use extack to return error messages directly to user space, update the SJW handling, including the definition of a new default value that will benefit CAN-FD controllers, by increasing their oscillator tolerance. New hardware / drivers: - Ethernet: - nVidia BlueField-3 support (control traffic driver) - Ethernet support for imx93 SoCs - Motorcomm yt8531 gigabit Ethernet PHY - onsemi NCN26000 10BASE-T1S PHY (with support for PLCA) - Microchip LAN8841 PHY (incl. cable diagnostics and PTP) - Amlogic gxl MDIO mux - WiFi: - RealTek RTL8188EU (rtl8xxxu) - Qualcomm Wi-Fi 7 devices (ath12k) - CAN: - Renesas R-Car V4H Drivers: - Bluetooth: - Set Per Platform Antenna Gain (PPAG) for Intel controllers. - Ethernet NICs: - Intel (1G, igc): - support TSN / Qbv / packet scheduling features of i226 model - Intel (100G, ice): - use GNSS subsystem instead of TTY - multi-buffer XDP support - extend support for GPIO pins to E823 devices - nVidia/Mellanox: - update the shared buffer configuration on PFC commands - implement PTP adjphase function for HW offset control - TC support for Geneve and GRE with VF tunnel offload - more efficient crypto key management method - multi-port eswitch support - Netronome/Corigine: - add DCB IEEE support - support IPsec offloading for NFP3800 - Freescale/NXP (enetc): - support XDP_REDIRECT for XDP non-linear buffers - improve reconfig, avoid link flap and waiting for idle - support MAC Merge layer - Other NICs: - sfc/ef100: add basic devlink support for ef100 - ionic: rx_push mode operation (writing descriptors via MMIO) - bnxt: use the auxiliary bus abstraction for RDMA - r8169: disable ASPM and reset bus in case of tx timeout - cpsw: support QSGMII mode for J721e CPSW9G - cpts: support pulse-per-second output - ngbe: add an mdio bus driver - usbnet: optimize usbnet_bh() by avoiding unnecessary queuing - r8152: handle devices with FW with NCM support - amd-xgbe: support 10Mbps, 2.5GbE speeds and rx-adaptation - virtio-net: support multi buffer XDP - virtio/vsock: replace virtio_vsock_pkt with sk_buff - tsnep: XDP support - Ethernet high-speed switches: - nVidia/Mellanox (mlxsw): - add support for latency TLV (in FW control messages) - Microchip (sparx5): - separate explicit and implicit traffic forwarding rules, make the implicit rules always active - add support for egress DSCP rewrite - IS0 VCAP support (Ingress Classification) - IS2 VCAP filters (protos, L3 addrs, L4 ports, flags, ToS etc.) - ES2 VCAP support (Egress Access Control) - support for Per-Stream Filtering and Policing (802.1Q, 8.6.5.1) - Ethernet embedded switches: - Marvell (mv88e6xxx): - add MAB (port auth) offload support - enable PTP receive for mv88e6390 - NXP (ocelot): - support MAC Merge layer - support for the the vsc7512 internal copper phys - Microchip: - lan9303: convert to PHYLINK - lan966x: support TC flower filter statistics - lan937x: PTP support for KSZ9563/KSZ8563 and LAN937x - lan937x: support Credit Based Shaper configuration - ksz9477: support Energy Efficient Ethernet - other: - qca8k: convert to regmap read/write API, use bulk operations - rswitch: Improve TX timestamp accuracy - Intel WiFi (iwlwifi): - EHT (Wi-Fi 7) rate reporting - STEP equalizer support: transfer some STEP (connection to radio on platforms with integrated wifi) related parameters from the BIOS to the firmware. - Qualcomm 802.11ax WiFi (ath11k): - IPQ5018 support - Fine Timing Measurement (FTM) responder role support - channel 177 support - MediaTek WiFi (mt76): - per-PHY LED support - mt7996: EHT (Wi-Fi 7) support - Wireless Ethernet Dispatch (WED) reset support - switch to using page pool allocator - RealTek WiFi (rtw89): - support new version of Bluetooth co-existance - Mobile: - rmnet: support TX aggregation" * tag 'net-next-6.3' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/netdev/net-next: (1872 commits) page_pool: add a comment explaining the fragment counter usage net: ethtool: fix __ethtool_dev_mm_supported() implementation ethtool: pse-pd: Fix double word in comments xsk: add linux/vmalloc.h to xsk.c sefltests: netdevsim: wait for devlink instance after netns removal selftest: fib_tests: Always cleanup before exit net/mlx5e: Align IPsec ASO result memory to be as required by hardware net/mlx5e: TC, Set CT miss to the specific ct action instance net/mlx5e: Rename CHAIN_TO_REG to MAPPED_OBJ_TO_REG net/mlx5: Refactor tc miss handling to a single function net/mlx5: Kconfig: Make tc offload depend on tc skb extension net/sched: flower: Support hardware miss to tc action net/sched: flower: Move filter handle initialization earlier net/sched: cls_api: Support hardware miss to tc action net/sched: Rename user cookie and act cookie sfc: fix builds without CONFIG_RTC_LIB sfc: clean up some inconsistent indentings net/mlx4_en: Introduce flexible array to silence overflow warning net: lan966x: Fix possible deadlock inside PTP net/ulp: Remove redundant ->clone() test in inet_clone_ulp(). ...
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/atomic_t.txt')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/atomic_t.txt367
1 files changed, 367 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/atomic_t.txt b/Documentation/atomic_t.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0f1ffa03d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/atomic_t.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,367 @@
+
+On atomic types (atomic_t atomic64_t and atomic_long_t).
+
+The atomic type provides an interface to the architecture's means of atomic
+RMW operations between CPUs (atomic operations on MMIO are not supported and
+can lead to fatal traps on some platforms).
+
+API
+---
+
+The 'full' API consists of (atomic64_ and atomic_long_ prefixes omitted for
+brevity):
+
+Non-RMW ops:
+
+ atomic_read(), atomic_set()
+ atomic_read_acquire(), atomic_set_release()
+
+
+RMW atomic operations:
+
+Arithmetic:
+
+ atomic_{add,sub,inc,dec}()
+ atomic_{add,sub,inc,dec}_return{,_relaxed,_acquire,_release}()
+ atomic_fetch_{add,sub,inc,dec}{,_relaxed,_acquire,_release}()
+
+
+Bitwise:
+
+ atomic_{and,or,xor,andnot}()
+ atomic_fetch_{and,or,xor,andnot}{,_relaxed,_acquire,_release}()
+
+
+Swap:
+
+ atomic_xchg{,_relaxed,_acquire,_release}()
+ atomic_cmpxchg{,_relaxed,_acquire,_release}()
+ atomic_try_cmpxchg{,_relaxed,_acquire,_release}()
+
+
+Reference count (but please see refcount_t):
+
+ atomic_add_unless(), atomic_inc_not_zero()
+ atomic_sub_and_test(), atomic_dec_and_test()
+
+
+Misc:
+
+ atomic_inc_and_test(), atomic_add_negative()
+ atomic_dec_unless_positive(), atomic_inc_unless_negative()
+
+
+Barriers:
+
+ smp_mb__{before,after}_atomic()
+
+
+TYPES (signed vs unsigned)
+-----
+
+While atomic_t, atomic_long_t and atomic64_t use int, long and s64
+respectively (for hysterical raisins), the kernel uses -fno-strict-overflow
+(which implies -fwrapv) and defines signed overflow to behave like
+2s-complement.
+
+Therefore, an explicitly unsigned variant of the atomic ops is strictly
+unnecessary and we can simply cast, there is no UB.
+
+There was a bug in UBSAN prior to GCC-8 that would generate UB warnings for
+signed types.
+
+With this we also conform to the C/C++ _Atomic behaviour and things like
+P1236R1.
+
+
+SEMANTICS
+---------
+
+Non-RMW ops:
+
+The non-RMW ops are (typically) regular LOADs and STOREs and are canonically
+implemented using READ_ONCE(), WRITE_ONCE(), smp_load_acquire() and
+smp_store_release() respectively. Therefore, if you find yourself only using
+the Non-RMW operations of atomic_t, you do not in fact need atomic_t at all
+and are doing it wrong.
+
+A note for the implementation of atomic_set{}() is that it must not break the
+atomicity of the RMW ops. That is:
+
+ C Atomic-RMW-ops-are-atomic-WRT-atomic_set
+
+ {
+ atomic_t v = ATOMIC_INIT(1);
+ }
+
+ P0(atomic_t *v)
+ {
+ (void)atomic_add_unless(v, 1, 0);
+ }
+
+ P1(atomic_t *v)
+ {
+ atomic_set(v, 0);
+ }
+
+ exists
+ (v=2)
+
+In this case we would expect the atomic_set() from CPU1 to either happen
+before the atomic_add_unless(), in which case that latter one would no-op, or
+_after_ in which case we'd overwrite its result. In no case is "2" a valid
+outcome.
+
+This is typically true on 'normal' platforms, where a regular competing STORE
+will invalidate a LL/SC or fail a CMPXCHG.
+
+The obvious case where this is not so is when we need to implement atomic ops
+with a lock:
+
+ CPU0 CPU1
+
+ atomic_add_unless(v, 1, 0);
+ lock();
+ ret = READ_ONCE(v->counter); // == 1
+ atomic_set(v, 0);
+ if (ret != u) WRITE_ONCE(v->counter, 0);
+ WRITE_ONCE(v->counter, ret + 1);
+ unlock();
+
+the typical solution is to then implement atomic_set{}() with atomic_xchg().
+
+
+RMW ops:
+
+These come in various forms:
+
+ - plain operations without return value: atomic_{}()
+
+ - operations which return the modified value: atomic_{}_return()
+
+ these are limited to the arithmetic operations because those are
+ reversible. Bitops are irreversible and therefore the modified value
+ is of dubious utility.
+
+ - operations which return the original value: atomic_fetch_{}()
+
+ - swap operations: xchg(), cmpxchg() and try_cmpxchg()
+
+ - misc; the special purpose operations that are commonly used and would,
+ given the interface, normally be implemented using (try_)cmpxchg loops but
+ are time critical and can, (typically) on LL/SC architectures, be more
+ efficiently implemented.
+
+All these operations are SMP atomic; that is, the operations (for a single
+atomic variable) can be fully ordered and no intermediate state is lost or
+visible.
+
+
+ORDERING (go read memory-barriers.txt first)
+--------
+
+The rule of thumb:
+
+ - non-RMW operations are unordered;
+
+ - RMW operations that have no return value are unordered;
+
+ - RMW operations that have a return value are fully ordered;
+
+ - RMW operations that are conditional are unordered on FAILURE,
+ otherwise the above rules apply.
+
+Except of course when an operation has an explicit ordering like:
+
+ {}_relaxed: unordered
+ {}_acquire: the R of the RMW (or atomic_read) is an ACQUIRE
+ {}_release: the W of the RMW (or atomic_set) is a RELEASE
+
+Where 'unordered' is against other memory locations. Address dependencies are
+not defeated.
+
+Fully ordered primitives are ordered against everything prior and everything
+subsequent. Therefore a fully ordered primitive is like having an smp_mb()
+before and an smp_mb() after the primitive.
+
+
+The barriers:
+
+ smp_mb__{before,after}_atomic()
+
+only apply to the RMW atomic ops and can be used to augment/upgrade the
+ordering inherent to the op. These barriers act almost like a full smp_mb():
+smp_mb__before_atomic() orders all earlier accesses against the RMW op
+itself and all accesses following it, and smp_mb__after_atomic() orders all
+later accesses against the RMW op and all accesses preceding it. However,
+accesses between the smp_mb__{before,after}_atomic() and the RMW op are not
+ordered, so it is advisable to place the barrier right next to the RMW atomic
+op whenever possible.
+
+These helper barriers exist because architectures have varying implicit
+ordering on their SMP atomic primitives. For example our TSO architectures
+provide full ordered atomics and these barriers are no-ops.
+
+NOTE: when the atomic RmW ops are fully ordered, they should also imply a
+compiler barrier.
+
+Thus:
+
+ atomic_fetch_add();
+
+is equivalent to:
+
+ smp_mb__before_atomic();
+ atomic_fetch_add_relaxed();
+ smp_mb__after_atomic();
+
+However the atomic_fetch_add() might be implemented more efficiently.
+
+Further, while something like:
+
+ smp_mb__before_atomic();
+ atomic_dec(&X);
+
+is a 'typical' RELEASE pattern, the barrier is strictly stronger than
+a RELEASE because it orders preceding instructions against both the read
+and write parts of the atomic_dec(), and against all following instructions
+as well. Similarly, something like:
+
+ atomic_inc(&X);
+ smp_mb__after_atomic();
+
+is an ACQUIRE pattern (though very much not typical), but again the barrier is
+strictly stronger than ACQUIRE. As illustrated:
+
+ C Atomic-RMW+mb__after_atomic-is-stronger-than-acquire
+
+ {
+ }
+
+ P0(int *x, atomic_t *y)
+ {
+ r0 = READ_ONCE(*x);
+ smp_rmb();
+ r1 = atomic_read(y);
+ }
+
+ P1(int *x, atomic_t *y)
+ {
+ atomic_inc(y);
+ smp_mb__after_atomic();
+ WRITE_ONCE(*x, 1);
+ }
+
+ exists
+ (0:r0=1 /\ 0:r1=0)
+
+This should not happen; but a hypothetical atomic_inc_acquire() --
+(void)atomic_fetch_inc_acquire() for instance -- would allow the outcome,
+because it would not order the W part of the RMW against the following
+WRITE_ONCE. Thus:
+
+ P0 P1
+
+ t = LL.acq *y (0)
+ t++;
+ *x = 1;
+ r0 = *x (1)
+ RMB
+ r1 = *y (0)
+ SC *y, t;
+
+is allowed.
+
+
+CMPXCHG vs TRY_CMPXCHG
+----------------------
+
+ int atomic_cmpxchg(atomic_t *ptr, int old, int new);
+ bool atomic_try_cmpxchg(atomic_t *ptr, int *oldp, int new);
+
+Both provide the same functionality, but try_cmpxchg() can lead to more
+compact code. The functions relate like:
+
+ bool atomic_try_cmpxchg(atomic_t *ptr, int *oldp, int new)
+ {
+ int ret, old = *oldp;
+ ret = atomic_cmpxchg(ptr, old, new);
+ if (ret != old)
+ *oldp = ret;
+ return ret == old;
+ }
+
+and:
+
+ int atomic_cmpxchg(atomic_t *ptr, int old, int new)
+ {
+ (void)atomic_try_cmpxchg(ptr, &old, new);
+ return old;
+ }
+
+Usage:
+
+ old = atomic_read(&v); old = atomic_read(&v);
+ for (;;) { do {
+ new = func(old); new = func(old);
+ tmp = atomic_cmpxchg(&v, old, new); } while (!atomic_try_cmpxchg(&v, &old, new));
+ if (tmp == old)
+ break;
+ old = tmp;
+ }
+
+NB. try_cmpxchg() also generates better code on some platforms (notably x86)
+where the function more closely matches the hardware instruction.
+
+
+FORWARD PROGRESS
+----------------
+
+In general strong forward progress is expected of all unconditional atomic
+operations -- those in the Arithmetic and Bitwise classes and xchg(). However
+a fair amount of code also requires forward progress from the conditional
+atomic operations.
+
+Specifically 'simple' cmpxchg() loops are expected to not starve one another
+indefinitely. However, this is not evident on LL/SC architectures, because
+while an LL/SC architecure 'can/should/must' provide forward progress
+guarantees between competing LL/SC sections, such a guarantee does not
+transfer to cmpxchg() implemented using LL/SC. Consider:
+
+ old = atomic_read(&v);
+ do {
+ new = func(old);
+ } while (!atomic_try_cmpxchg(&v, &old, new));
+
+which on LL/SC becomes something like:
+
+ old = atomic_read(&v);
+ do {
+ new = func(old);
+ } while (!({
+ volatile asm ("1: LL %[oldval], %[v]\n"
+ " CMP %[oldval], %[old]\n"
+ " BNE 2f\n"
+ " SC %[new], %[v]\n"
+ " BNE 1b\n"
+ "2:\n"
+ : [oldval] "=&r" (oldval), [v] "m" (v)
+ : [old] "r" (old), [new] "r" (new)
+ : "memory");
+ success = (oldval == old);
+ if (!success)
+ old = oldval;
+ success; }));
+
+However, even the forward branch from the failed compare can cause the LL/SC
+to fail on some architectures, let alone whatever the compiler makes of the C
+loop body. As a result there is no guarantee what so ever the cacheline
+containing @v will stay on the local CPU and progress is made.
+
+Even native CAS architectures can fail to provide forward progress for their
+primitive (See Sparc64 for an example).
+
+Such implementations are strongly encouraged to add exponential backoff loops
+to a failed CAS in order to ensure some progress. Affected architectures are
+also strongly encouraged to inspect/audit the atomic fallbacks, refcount_t and
+their locking primitives.