134 lines
3.9 KiB
Text
134 lines
3.9 KiB
Text
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#### cli()/sti() removal guide, started by Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>
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as of 2.5.28, five popular macros have been removed on SMP, and
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are being phased out on UP:
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cli(), sti(), save_flags(flags), save_flags_cli(flags), restore_flags(flags)
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until now it was possible to protect driver code against interrupt
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handlers via a cli(), but from now on other, more lightweight methods
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have to be used for synchronization, such as spinlocks or semaphores.
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for example, driver code that used to do something like:
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struct driver_data;
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irq_handler (...)
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{
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....
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driver_data.finish = 1;
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driver_data.new_work = 0;
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....
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}
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...
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ioctl_func (...)
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{
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...
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cli();
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...
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driver_data.finish = 0;
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driver_data.new_work = 2;
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...
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sti();
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...
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}
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was SMP-correct because the cli() function ensured that no
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interrupt handler (amongst them the above irq_handler()) function
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would execute while the cli()-ed section is executing.
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but from now on a more direct method of locking has to be used:
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spinlock_t driver_lock = SPIN_LOCK_UNLOCKED;
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struct driver_data;
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irq_handler (...)
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{
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unsigned long flags;
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....
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spin_lock_irqsave(&driver_lock, flags);
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....
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driver_data.finish = 1;
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driver_data.new_work = 0;
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....
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spin_unlock_irqrestore(&driver_lock, flags);
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....
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}
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...
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ioctl_func (...)
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{
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...
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spin_lock_irq(&driver_lock);
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...
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driver_data.finish = 0;
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driver_data.new_work = 2;
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...
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spin_unlock_irq(&driver_lock);
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...
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}
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the above code has a number of advantages:
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- the locking relation is easier to understand - actual lock usage
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pinpoints the critical sections. cli() usage is too opaque.
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Easier to understand means it's easier to debug.
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- it's faster, because spinlocks are faster to acquire than the
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potentially heavily-used IRQ lock. Furthermore, your driver does
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not have to wait eg. for a big heavy SCSI interrupt to finish,
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because the driver_lock spinlock is only used by your driver.
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cli() on the other hand was used by many drivers, and extended
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the critical section to the whole IRQ handler function - creating
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serious lock contention.
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to make the transition easier, we've still kept the cli(), sti(),
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save_flags(), save_flags_cli() and restore_flags() macros defined
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on UP systems - but their usage will be phased out until 2.6 is
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released.
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drivers that want to disable local interrupts (interrupts on the
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current CPU), can use the following five macros:
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local_irq_disable(), local_irq_enable(), local_save_flags(flags),
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local_irq_save(flags), local_irq_restore(flags)
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but beware, their meaning and semantics are much simpler, far from
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that of the old cli(), sti(), save_flags(flags) and restore_flags(flags)
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SMP meaning:
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local_irq_disable() => turn local IRQs off
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local_irq_enable() => turn local IRQs on
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local_save_flags(flags) => save the current IRQ state into flags. The
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state can be on or off. (on some
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architectures there's even more bits in it.)
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local_irq_save(flags) => save the current IRQ state into flags and
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disable interrupts.
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local_irq_restore(flags) => restore the IRQ state from flags.
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(local_irq_save can save both irqs on and irqs off state, and
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local_irq_restore can restore into both irqs on and irqs off state.)
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another related change is that synchronize_irq() now takes a parameter:
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synchronize_irq(irq). This change too has the purpose of making SMP
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synchronization more lightweight - this way you can wait for your own
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interrupt handler to finish, no need to wait for other IRQ sources.
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why were these changes done? The main reason was the architectural burden
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of maintaining the cli()/sti() interface - it became a real problem. The
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new interrupt system is much more streamlined, easier to understand, debug,
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and it's also a bit faster - the same happened to it that will happen to
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cli()/sti() using drivers once they convert to spinlocks :-)
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