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Herbert Xu recently reported a problem concerning RCU and compiler barriers. In the course of discussing the problem, he put forth a litmus test which illustrated a serious defect in the Linux Kernel Memory Model's data-race-detection code [1]. The defect was that the LKMM assumed visibility and executes-before ordering of plain accesses had to be mediated by marked accesses. In Herbert's litmus test this wasn't so, and the LKMM claimed the litmus test was allowed and contained a data race although neither is true. In fact, plain accesses can be ordered by fences even in the absence of marked accesses. In most cases this doesn't matter, because most fences only order accesses within a single thread. But the rcu-fence relation is different; it can order (and induce visibility between) accesses in different threads -- events which otherwise might be concurrent. This makes it relevant to data-race detection. This patch makes two changes to the memory model to incorporate the new insight: If a store is separated by a fence from another access, the store is necessarily visible to the other access (as reflected in the ww-vis and wr-vis relations). Similarly, if a load is separated by a fence from another access then the load necessarily executes before the other access (as reflected in the rw-xbstar relation). If a store is separated by a strong fence from a marked access then it is necessarily visible to any access that executes after the marked access (as reflected in the ww-vis and wr-vis relations). With these changes, the LKMM gives the desired result for Herbert's litmus test and other related ones [2]. [1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/Pine.LNX.4.44L0.1906041026570.1731-100000@iolanthe.rowland.org/ [2] https://github.com/paulmckrcu/litmus/blob/master/manual/plain/C-S-rcunoderef-1.litmus https://github.com/paulmckrcu/litmus/blob/master/manual/plain/C-S-rcunoderef-2.litmus https://github.com/paulmckrcu/litmus/blob/master/manual/plain/C-S-rcunoderef-3.litmus https://github.com/paulmckrcu/litmus/blob/master/manual/plain/C-S-rcunoderef-4.litmus https://github.com/paulmckrcu/litmus/blob/master/manual/plain/strong-vis.litmus Reported-by: Herbert Xu <herbert@gondor.apana.org.au> Signed-off-by: Alan Stern <stern@rowland.harvard.edu> Acked-by: Andrea Parri <andrea.parri@amarulasolutions.com> Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.ibm.com> Tested-by: Akira Yokosawa <akiyks@gmail.com>
Linux kernel
============
There are several guides for kernel developers and users. These guides can
be rendered in a number of formats, like HTML and PDF. Please read
Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst first.
In order to build the documentation, use ``make htmldocs`` or
``make pdfdocs``. The formatted documentation can also be read online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/
There are various text files in the Documentation/ subdirectory,
several of them using the Restructured Text markup notation.
Please read the Documentation/process/changes.rst file, as it contains the
requirements for building and running the kernel, and information about
the problems which may result by upgrading your kernel.