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1 | RCU Torture Test Operation | ||
2 | |||
3 | |||
4 | CONFIG_RCU_TORTURE_TEST | ||
5 | |||
6 | The CONFIG_RCU_TORTURE_TEST config option is available for all RCU | ||
7 | implementations. It creates an rcutorture kernel module that can | ||
8 | be loaded to run a torture test. The test periodically outputs | ||
9 | status messages via printk(), which can be examined via the dmesg | ||
10 | command (perhaps grepping for "rcutorture"). The test is started | ||
11 | when the module is loaded, and stops when the module is unloaded. | ||
12 | |||
13 | However, actually setting this config option to "y" results in the system | ||
14 | running the test immediately upon boot, and ending only when the system | ||
15 | is taken down. Normally, one will instead want to build the system | ||
16 | with CONFIG_RCU_TORTURE_TEST=m and to use modprobe and rmmod to control | ||
17 | the test, perhaps using a script similar to the one shown at the end of | ||
18 | this document. Note that you will need CONFIG_MODULE_UNLOAD in order | ||
19 | to be able to end the test. | ||
20 | |||
21 | |||
22 | MODULE PARAMETERS | ||
23 | |||
24 | This module has the following parameters: | ||
25 | |||
26 | nreaders This is the number of RCU reading threads supported. | ||
27 | The default is twice the number of CPUs. Why twice? | ||
28 | To properly exercise RCU implementations with preemptible | ||
29 | read-side critical sections. | ||
30 | |||
31 | stat_interval The number of seconds between output of torture | ||
32 | statistics (via printk()). Regardless of the interval, | ||
33 | statistics are printed when the module is unloaded. | ||
34 | Setting the interval to zero causes the statistics to | ||
35 | be printed -only- when the module is unloaded, and this | ||
36 | is the default. | ||
37 | |||
38 | verbose Enable debug printk()s. Default is disabled. | ||
39 | |||
40 | |||
41 | OUTPUT | ||
42 | |||
43 | The statistics output is as follows: | ||
44 | |||
45 | rcutorture: --- Start of test: nreaders=16 stat_interval=0 verbose=0 | ||
46 | rcutorture: rtc: 0000000000000000 ver: 1916 tfle: 0 rta: 1916 rtaf: 0 rtf: 1915 | ||
47 | rcutorture: Reader Pipe: 1466408 9747 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | ||
48 | rcutorture: Reader Batch: 1464477 11678 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | ||
49 | rcutorture: Free-Block Circulation: 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 0 | ||
50 | rcutorture: --- End of test | ||
51 | |||
52 | The command "dmesg | grep rcutorture:" will extract this information on | ||
53 | most systems. On more esoteric configurations, it may be necessary to | ||
54 | use other commands to access the output of the printk()s used by | ||
55 | the RCU torture test. The printk()s use KERN_ALERT, so they should | ||
56 | be evident. ;-) | ||
57 | |||
58 | The entries are as follows: | ||
59 | |||
60 | o "ggp": The number of counter flips (or batches) since boot. | ||
61 | |||
62 | o "rtc": The hexadecimal address of the structure currently visible | ||
63 | to readers. | ||
64 | |||
65 | o "ver": The number of times since boot that the rcutw writer task | ||
66 | has changed the structure visible to readers. | ||
67 | |||
68 | o "tfle": If non-zero, indicates that the "torture freelist" | ||
69 | containing structure to be placed into the "rtc" area is empty. | ||
70 | This condition is important, since it can fool you into thinking | ||
71 | that RCU is working when it is not. :-/ | ||
72 | |||
73 | o "rta": Number of structures allocated from the torture freelist. | ||
74 | |||
75 | o "rtaf": Number of allocations from the torture freelist that have | ||
76 | failed due to the list being empty. | ||
77 | |||
78 | o "rtf": Number of frees into the torture freelist. | ||
79 | |||
80 | o "Reader Pipe": Histogram of "ages" of structures seen by readers. | ||
81 | If any entries past the first two are non-zero, RCU is broken. | ||
82 | And rcutorture prints the error flag string "!!!" to make sure | ||
83 | you notice. The age of a newly allocated structure is zero, | ||
84 | it becomes one when removed from reader visibility, and is | ||
85 | incremented once per grace period subsequently -- and is freed | ||
86 | after passing through (RCU_TORTURE_PIPE_LEN-2) grace periods. | ||
87 | |||
88 | The output displayed above was taken from a correctly working | ||
89 | RCU. If you want to see what it looks like when broken, break | ||
90 | it yourself. ;-) | ||
91 | |||
92 | o "Reader Batch": Another histogram of "ages" of structures seen | ||
93 | by readers, but in terms of counter flips (or batches) rather | ||
94 | than in terms of grace periods. The legal number of non-zero | ||
95 | entries is again two. The reason for this separate view is | ||
96 | that it is easier to get the third entry to show up in the | ||
97 | "Reader Batch" list than in the "Reader Pipe" list. | ||
98 | |||
99 | o "Free-Block Circulation": Shows the number of torture structures | ||
100 | that have reached a given point in the pipeline. The first element | ||
101 | should closely correspond to the number of structures allocated, | ||
102 | the second to the number that have been removed from reader view, | ||
103 | and all but the last remaining to the corresponding number of | ||
104 | passes through a grace period. The last entry should be zero, | ||
105 | as it is only incremented if a torture structure's counter | ||
106 | somehow gets incremented farther than it should. | ||
107 | |||
108 | |||
109 | USAGE | ||
110 | |||
111 | The following script may be used to torture RCU: | ||
112 | |||
113 | #!/bin/sh | ||
114 | |||
115 | modprobe rcutorture | ||
116 | sleep 100 | ||
117 | rmmod rcutorture | ||
118 | dmesg | grep rcutorture: | ||
119 | |||
120 | The output can be manually inspected for the error flag of "!!!". | ||
121 | One could of course create a more elaborate script that automatically | ||
122 | checked for such errors. | ||