diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/pnp.txt | 3 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/robust-futex-ABI.txt | 182 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/robust-futexes.txt | 218 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/rpc-cache.txt | 121 |
4 files changed, 479 insertions, 45 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/pnp.txt b/Documentation/pnp.txt index af0f6eabfa1c..9529c9c9fd59 100644 --- a/Documentation/pnp.txt +++ b/Documentation/pnp.txt | |||
@@ -115,6 +115,9 @@ pnp_unregister_protocol | |||
115 | pnp_register_driver | 115 | pnp_register_driver |
116 | - adds a PnP driver to the Plug and Play Layer | 116 | - adds a PnP driver to the Plug and Play Layer |
117 | - this includes driver model integration | 117 | - this includes driver model integration |
118 | - returns zero for success or a negative error number for failure; count | ||
119 | calls to the .add() method if you need to know how many devices bind to | ||
120 | the driver | ||
118 | 121 | ||
119 | pnp_unregister_driver | 122 | pnp_unregister_driver |
120 | - removes a PnP driver from the Plug and Play Layer | 123 | - removes a PnP driver from the Plug and Play Layer |
diff --git a/Documentation/robust-futex-ABI.txt b/Documentation/robust-futex-ABI.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..8529a17ffaa1 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/robust-futex-ABI.txt | |||
@@ -0,0 +1,182 @@ | |||
1 | Started by Paul Jackson <pj@sgi.com> | ||
2 | |||
3 | The robust futex ABI | ||
4 | -------------------- | ||
5 | |||
6 | Robust_futexes provide a mechanism that is used in addition to normal | ||
7 | futexes, for kernel assist of cleanup of held locks on task exit. | ||
8 | |||
9 | The interesting data as to what futexes a thread is holding is kept on a | ||
10 | linked list in user space, where it can be updated efficiently as locks | ||
11 | are taken and dropped, without kernel intervention. The only additional | ||
12 | kernel intervention required for robust_futexes above and beyond what is | ||
13 | required for futexes is: | ||
14 | |||
15 | 1) a one time call, per thread, to tell the kernel where its list of | ||
16 | held robust_futexes begins, and | ||
17 | 2) internal kernel code at exit, to handle any listed locks held | ||
18 | by the exiting thread. | ||
19 | |||
20 | The existing normal futexes already provide a "Fast Userspace Locking" | ||
21 | mechanism, which handles uncontested locking without needing a system | ||
22 | call, and handles contested locking by maintaining a list of waiting | ||
23 | threads in the kernel. Options on the sys_futex(2) system call support | ||
24 | waiting on a particular futex, and waking up the next waiter on a | ||
25 | particular futex. | ||
26 | |||
27 | For robust_futexes to work, the user code (typically in a library such | ||
28 | as glibc linked with the application) has to manage and place the | ||
29 | necessary list elements exactly as the kernel expects them. If it fails | ||
30 | to do so, then improperly listed locks will not be cleaned up on exit, | ||
31 | probably causing deadlock or other such failure of the other threads | ||
32 | waiting on the same locks. | ||
33 | |||
34 | A thread that anticipates possibly using robust_futexes should first | ||
35 | issue the system call: | ||
36 | |||
37 | asmlinkage long | ||
38 | sys_set_robust_list(struct robust_list_head __user *head, size_t len); | ||
39 | |||
40 | The pointer 'head' points to a structure in the threads address space | ||
41 | consisting of three words. Each word is 32 bits on 32 bit arch's, or 64 | ||
42 | bits on 64 bit arch's, and local byte order. Each thread should have | ||
43 | its own thread private 'head'. | ||
44 | |||
45 | If a thread is running in 32 bit compatibility mode on a 64 native arch | ||
46 | kernel, then it can actually have two such structures - one using 32 bit | ||
47 | words for 32 bit compatibility mode, and one using 64 bit words for 64 | ||
48 | bit native mode. The kernel, if it is a 64 bit kernel supporting 32 bit | ||
49 | compatibility mode, will attempt to process both lists on each task | ||
50 | exit, if the corresponding sys_set_robust_list() call has been made to | ||
51 | setup that list. | ||
52 | |||
53 | The first word in the memory structure at 'head' contains a | ||
54 | pointer to a single linked list of 'lock entries', one per lock, | ||
55 | as described below. If the list is empty, the pointer will point | ||
56 | to itself, 'head'. The last 'lock entry' points back to the 'head'. | ||
57 | |||
58 | The second word, called 'offset', specifies the offset from the | ||
59 | address of the associated 'lock entry', plus or minus, of what will | ||
60 | be called the 'lock word', from that 'lock entry'. The 'lock word' | ||
61 | is always a 32 bit word, unlike the other words above. The 'lock | ||
62 | word' holds 3 flag bits in the upper 3 bits, and the thread id (TID) | ||
63 | of the thread holding the lock in the bottom 29 bits. See further | ||
64 | below for a description of the flag bits. | ||
65 | |||
66 | The third word, called 'list_op_pending', contains transient copy of | ||
67 | the address of the 'lock entry', during list insertion and removal, | ||
68 | and is needed to correctly resolve races should a thread exit while | ||
69 | in the middle of a locking or unlocking operation. | ||
70 | |||
71 | Each 'lock entry' on the single linked list starting at 'head' consists | ||
72 | of just a single word, pointing to the next 'lock entry', or back to | ||
73 | 'head' if there are no more entries. In addition, nearby to each 'lock | ||
74 | entry', at an offset from the 'lock entry' specified by the 'offset' | ||
75 | word, is one 'lock word'. | ||
76 | |||
77 | The 'lock word' is always 32 bits, and is intended to be the same 32 bit | ||
78 | lock variable used by the futex mechanism, in conjunction with | ||
79 | robust_futexes. The kernel will only be able to wakeup the next thread | ||
80 | waiting for a lock on a threads exit if that next thread used the futex | ||
81 | mechanism to register the address of that 'lock word' with the kernel. | ||
82 | |||
83 | For each futex lock currently held by a thread, if it wants this | ||
84 | robust_futex support for exit cleanup of that lock, it should have one | ||
85 | 'lock entry' on this list, with its associated 'lock word' at the | ||
86 | specified 'offset'. Should a thread die while holding any such locks, | ||
87 | the kernel will walk this list, mark any such locks with a bit | ||
88 | indicating their holder died, and wakeup the next thread waiting for | ||
89 | that lock using the futex mechanism. | ||
90 | |||
91 | When a thread has invoked the above system call to indicate it | ||
92 | anticipates using robust_futexes, the kernel stores the passed in 'head' | ||
93 | pointer for that task. The task may retrieve that value later on by | ||
94 | using the system call: | ||
95 | |||
96 | asmlinkage long | ||
97 | sys_get_robust_list(int pid, struct robust_list_head __user **head_ptr, | ||
98 | size_t __user *len_ptr); | ||
99 | |||
100 | It is anticipated that threads will use robust_futexes embedded in | ||
101 | larger, user level locking structures, one per lock. The kernel | ||
102 | robust_futex mechanism doesn't care what else is in that structure, so | ||
103 | long as the 'offset' to the 'lock word' is the same for all | ||
104 | robust_futexes used by that thread. The thread should link those locks | ||
105 | it currently holds using the 'lock entry' pointers. It may also have | ||
106 | other links between the locks, such as the reverse side of a double | ||
107 | linked list, but that doesn't matter to the kernel. | ||
108 | |||
109 | By keeping its locks linked this way, on a list starting with a 'head' | ||
110 | pointer known to the kernel, the kernel can provide to a thread the | ||
111 | essential service available for robust_futexes, which is to help clean | ||
112 | up locks held at the time of (a perhaps unexpectedly) exit. | ||
113 | |||
114 | Actual locking and unlocking, during normal operations, is handled | ||
115 | entirely by user level code in the contending threads, and by the | ||
116 | existing futex mechanism to wait for, and wakeup, locks. The kernels | ||
117 | only essential involvement in robust_futexes is to remember where the | ||
118 | list 'head' is, and to walk the list on thread exit, handling locks | ||
119 | still held by the departing thread, as described below. | ||
120 | |||
121 | There may exist thousands of futex lock structures in a threads shared | ||
122 | memory, on various data structures, at a given point in time. Only those | ||
123 | lock structures for locks currently held by that thread should be on | ||
124 | that thread's robust_futex linked lock list a given time. | ||
125 | |||
126 | A given futex lock structure in a user shared memory region may be held | ||
127 | at different times by any of the threads with access to that region. The | ||
128 | thread currently holding such a lock, if any, is marked with the threads | ||
129 | TID in the lower 29 bits of the 'lock word'. | ||
130 | |||
131 | When adding or removing a lock from its list of held locks, in order for | ||
132 | the kernel to correctly handle lock cleanup regardless of when the task | ||
133 | exits (perhaps it gets an unexpected signal 9 in the middle of | ||
134 | manipulating this list), the user code must observe the following | ||
135 | protocol on 'lock entry' insertion and removal: | ||
136 | |||
137 | On insertion: | ||
138 | 1) set the 'list_op_pending' word to the address of the 'lock word' | ||
139 | to be inserted, | ||
140 | 2) acquire the futex lock, | ||
141 | 3) add the lock entry, with its thread id (TID) in the bottom 29 bits | ||
142 | of the 'lock word', to the linked list starting at 'head', and | ||
143 | 4) clear the 'list_op_pending' word. | ||
144 | |||
145 | On removal: | ||
146 | 1) set the 'list_op_pending' word to the address of the 'lock word' | ||
147 | to be removed, | ||
148 | 2) remove the lock entry for this lock from the 'head' list, | ||
149 | 2) release the futex lock, and | ||
150 | 2) clear the 'lock_op_pending' word. | ||
151 | |||
152 | On exit, the kernel will consider the address stored in | ||
153 | 'list_op_pending' and the address of each 'lock word' found by walking | ||
154 | the list starting at 'head'. For each such address, if the bottom 29 | ||
155 | bits of the 'lock word' at offset 'offset' from that address equals the | ||
156 | exiting threads TID, then the kernel will do two things: | ||
157 | |||
158 | 1) if bit 31 (0x80000000) is set in that word, then attempt a futex | ||
159 | wakeup on that address, which will waken the next thread that has | ||
160 | used to the futex mechanism to wait on that address, and | ||
161 | 2) atomically set bit 30 (0x40000000) in the 'lock word'. | ||
162 | |||
163 | In the above, bit 31 was set by futex waiters on that lock to indicate | ||
164 | they were waiting, and bit 30 is set by the kernel to indicate that the | ||
165 | lock owner died holding the lock. | ||
166 | |||
167 | The kernel exit code will silently stop scanning the list further if at | ||
168 | any point: | ||
169 | |||
170 | 1) the 'head' pointer or an subsequent linked list pointer | ||
171 | is not a valid address of a user space word | ||
172 | 2) the calculated location of the 'lock word' (address plus | ||
173 | 'offset') is not the valud address of a 32 bit user space | ||
174 | word | ||
175 | 3) if the list contains more than 1 million (subject to | ||
176 | future kernel configuration changes) elements. | ||
177 | |||
178 | When the kernel sees a list entry whose 'lock word' doesn't have the | ||
179 | current threads TID in the lower 29 bits, it does nothing with that | ||
180 | entry, and goes on to the next entry. | ||
181 | |||
182 | Bit 29 (0x20000000) of the 'lock word' is reserved for future use. | ||
diff --git a/Documentation/robust-futexes.txt b/Documentation/robust-futexes.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..df82d75245a0 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/robust-futexes.txt | |||
@@ -0,0 +1,218 @@ | |||
1 | Started by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com> | ||
2 | |||
3 | Background | ||
4 | ---------- | ||
5 | |||
6 | what are robust futexes? To answer that, we first need to understand | ||
7 | what futexes are: normal futexes are special types of locks that in the | ||
8 | noncontended case can be acquired/released from userspace without having | ||
9 | to enter the kernel. | ||
10 | |||
11 | A futex is in essence a user-space address, e.g. a 32-bit lock variable | ||
12 | field. If userspace notices contention (the lock is already owned and | ||
13 | someone else wants to grab it too) then the lock is marked with a value | ||
14 | that says "there's a waiter pending", and the sys_futex(FUTEX_WAIT) | ||
15 | syscall is used to wait for the other guy to release it. The kernel | ||
16 | creates a 'futex queue' internally, so that it can later on match up the | ||
17 | waiter with the waker - without them having to know about each other. | ||
18 | When the owner thread releases the futex, it notices (via the variable | ||
19 | value) that there were waiter(s) pending, and does the | ||
20 | sys_futex(FUTEX_WAKE) syscall to wake them up. Once all waiters have | ||
21 | taken and released the lock, the futex is again back to 'uncontended' | ||
22 | state, and there's no in-kernel state associated with it. The kernel | ||
23 | completely forgets that there ever was a futex at that address. This | ||
24 | method makes futexes very lightweight and scalable. | ||
25 | |||
26 | "Robustness" is about dealing with crashes while holding a lock: if a | ||
27 | process exits prematurely while holding a pthread_mutex_t lock that is | ||
28 | also shared with some other process (e.g. yum segfaults while holding a | ||
29 | pthread_mutex_t, or yum is kill -9-ed), then waiters for that lock need | ||
30 | to be notified that the last owner of the lock exited in some irregular | ||
31 | way. | ||
32 | |||
33 | To solve such types of problems, "robust mutex" userspace APIs were | ||
34 | created: pthread_mutex_lock() returns an error value if the owner exits | ||
35 | prematurely - and the new owner can decide whether the data protected by | ||
36 | the lock can be recovered safely. | ||
37 | |||
38 | There is a big conceptual problem with futex based mutexes though: it is | ||
39 | the kernel that destroys the owner task (e.g. due to a SEGFAULT), but | ||
40 | the kernel cannot help with the cleanup: if there is no 'futex queue' | ||
41 | (and in most cases there is none, futexes being fast lightweight locks) | ||
42 | then the kernel has no information to clean up after the held lock! | ||
43 | Userspace has no chance to clean up after the lock either - userspace is | ||
44 | the one that crashes, so it has no opportunity to clean up. Catch-22. | ||
45 | |||
46 | In practice, when e.g. yum is kill -9-ed (or segfaults), a system reboot | ||
47 | is needed to release that futex based lock. This is one of the leading | ||
48 | bugreports against yum. | ||
49 | |||
50 | To solve this problem, the traditional approach was to extend the vma | ||
51 | (virtual memory area descriptor) concept to have a notion of 'pending | ||
52 | robust futexes attached to this area'. This approach requires 3 new | ||
53 | syscall variants to sys_futex(): FUTEX_REGISTER, FUTEX_DEREGISTER and | ||
54 | FUTEX_RECOVER. At do_exit() time, all vmas are searched to see whether | ||
55 | they have a robust_head set. This approach has two fundamental problems | ||
56 | left: | ||
57 | |||
58 | - it has quite complex locking and race scenarios. The vma-based | ||
59 | approach had been pending for years, but they are still not completely | ||
60 | reliable. | ||
61 | |||
62 | - they have to scan _every_ vma at sys_exit() time, per thread! | ||
63 | |||
64 | The second disadvantage is a real killer: pthread_exit() takes around 1 | ||
65 | microsecond on Linux, but with thousands (or tens of thousands) of vmas | ||
66 | every pthread_exit() takes a millisecond or more, also totally | ||
67 | destroying the CPU's L1 and L2 caches! | ||
68 | |||
69 | This is very much noticeable even for normal process sys_exit_group() | ||
70 | calls: the kernel has to do the vma scanning unconditionally! (this is | ||
71 | because the kernel has no knowledge about how many robust futexes there | ||
72 | are to be cleaned up, because a robust futex might have been registered | ||
73 | in another task, and the futex variable might have been simply mmap()-ed | ||
74 | into this process's address space). | ||
75 | |||
76 | This huge overhead forced the creation of CONFIG_FUTEX_ROBUST so that | ||
77 | normal kernels can turn it off, but worse than that: the overhead makes | ||
78 | robust futexes impractical for any type of generic Linux distribution. | ||
79 | |||
80 | So something had to be done. | ||
81 | |||
82 | New approach to robust futexes | ||
83 | ------------------------------ | ||
84 | |||
85 | At the heart of this new approach there is a per-thread private list of | ||
86 | robust locks that userspace is holding (maintained by glibc) - which | ||
87 | userspace list is registered with the kernel via a new syscall [this | ||
88 | registration happens at most once per thread lifetime]. At do_exit() | ||
89 | time, the kernel checks this user-space list: are there any robust futex | ||
90 | locks to be cleaned up? | ||
91 | |||
92 | In the common case, at do_exit() time, there is no list registered, so | ||
93 | the cost of robust futexes is just a simple current->robust_list != NULL | ||
94 | comparison. If the thread has registered a list, then normally the list | ||
95 | is empty. If the thread/process crashed or terminated in some incorrect | ||
96 | way then the list might be non-empty: in this case the kernel carefully | ||
97 | walks the list [not trusting it], and marks all locks that are owned by | ||
98 | this thread with the FUTEX_OWNER_DEAD bit, and wakes up one waiter (if | ||
99 | any). | ||
100 | |||
101 | The list is guaranteed to be private and per-thread at do_exit() time, | ||
102 | so it can be accessed by the kernel in a lockless way. | ||
103 | |||
104 | There is one race possible though: since adding to and removing from the | ||
105 | list is done after the futex is acquired by glibc, there is a few | ||
106 | instructions window for the thread (or process) to die there, leaving | ||
107 | the futex hung. To protect against this possibility, userspace (glibc) | ||
108 | also maintains a simple per-thread 'list_op_pending' field, to allow the | ||
109 | kernel to clean up if the thread dies after acquiring the lock, but just | ||
110 | before it could have added itself to the list. Glibc sets this | ||
111 | list_op_pending field before it tries to acquire the futex, and clears | ||
112 | it after the list-add (or list-remove) has finished. | ||
113 | |||
114 | That's all that is needed - all the rest of robust-futex cleanup is done | ||
115 | in userspace [just like with the previous patches]. | ||
116 | |||
117 | Ulrich Drepper has implemented the necessary glibc support for this new | ||
118 | mechanism, which fully enables robust mutexes. | ||
119 | |||
120 | Key differences of this userspace-list based approach, compared to the | ||
121 | vma based method: | ||
122 | |||
123 | - it's much, much faster: at thread exit time, there's no need to loop | ||
124 | over every vma (!), which the VM-based method has to do. Only a very | ||
125 | simple 'is the list empty' op is done. | ||
126 | |||
127 | - no VM changes are needed - 'struct address_space' is left alone. | ||
128 | |||
129 | - no registration of individual locks is needed: robust mutexes dont | ||
130 | need any extra per-lock syscalls. Robust mutexes thus become a very | ||
131 | lightweight primitive - so they dont force the application designer | ||
132 | to do a hard choice between performance and robustness - robust | ||
133 | mutexes are just as fast. | ||
134 | |||
135 | - no per-lock kernel allocation happens. | ||
136 | |||
137 | - no resource limits are needed. | ||
138 | |||
139 | - no kernel-space recovery call (FUTEX_RECOVER) is needed. | ||
140 | |||
141 | - the implementation and the locking is "obvious", and there are no | ||
142 | interactions with the VM. | ||
143 | |||
144 | Performance | ||
145 | ----------- | ||
146 | |||
147 | I have benchmarked the time needed for the kernel to process a list of 1 | ||
148 | million (!) held locks, using the new method [on a 2GHz CPU]: | ||
149 | |||
150 | - with FUTEX_WAIT set [contended mutex]: 130 msecs | ||
151 | - without FUTEX_WAIT set [uncontended mutex]: 30 msecs | ||
152 | |||
153 | I have also measured an approach where glibc does the lock notification | ||
154 | [which it currently does for !pshared robust mutexes], and that took 256 | ||
155 | msecs - clearly slower, due to the 1 million FUTEX_WAKE syscalls | ||
156 | userspace had to do. | ||
157 | |||
158 | (1 million held locks are unheard of - we expect at most a handful of | ||
159 | locks to be held at a time. Nevertheless it's nice to know that this | ||
160 | approach scales nicely.) | ||
161 | |||
162 | Implementation details | ||
163 | ---------------------- | ||
164 | |||
165 | The patch adds two new syscalls: one to register the userspace list, and | ||
166 | one to query the registered list pointer: | ||
167 | |||
168 | asmlinkage long | ||
169 | sys_set_robust_list(struct robust_list_head __user *head, | ||
170 | size_t len); | ||
171 | |||
172 | asmlinkage long | ||
173 | sys_get_robust_list(int pid, struct robust_list_head __user **head_ptr, | ||
174 | size_t __user *len_ptr); | ||
175 | |||
176 | List registration is very fast: the pointer is simply stored in | ||
177 | current->robust_list. [Note that in the future, if robust futexes become | ||
178 | widespread, we could extend sys_clone() to register a robust-list head | ||
179 | for new threads, without the need of another syscall.] | ||
180 | |||
181 | So there is virtually zero overhead for tasks not using robust futexes, | ||
182 | and even for robust futex users, there is only one extra syscall per | ||
183 | thread lifetime, and the cleanup operation, if it happens, is fast and | ||
184 | straightforward. The kernel doesnt have any internal distinction between | ||
185 | robust and normal futexes. | ||
186 | |||
187 | If a futex is found to be held at exit time, the kernel sets the | ||
188 | following bit of the futex word: | ||
189 | |||
190 | #define FUTEX_OWNER_DIED 0x40000000 | ||
191 | |||
192 | and wakes up the next futex waiter (if any). User-space does the rest of | ||
193 | the cleanup. | ||
194 | |||
195 | Otherwise, robust futexes are acquired by glibc by putting the TID into | ||
196 | the futex field atomically. Waiters set the FUTEX_WAITERS bit: | ||
197 | |||
198 | #define FUTEX_WAITERS 0x80000000 | ||
199 | |||
200 | and the remaining bits are for the TID. | ||
201 | |||
202 | Testing, architecture support | ||
203 | ----------------------------- | ||
204 | |||
205 | i've tested the new syscalls on x86 and x86_64, and have made sure the | ||
206 | parsing of the userspace list is robust [ ;-) ] even if the list is | ||
207 | deliberately corrupted. | ||
208 | |||
209 | i386 and x86_64 syscalls are wired up at the moment, and Ulrich has | ||
210 | tested the new glibc code (on x86_64 and i386), and it works for his | ||
211 | robust-mutex testcases. | ||
212 | |||
213 | All other architectures should build just fine too - but they wont have | ||
214 | the new syscalls yet. | ||
215 | |||
216 | Architectures need to implement the new futex_atomic_cmpxchg_inatomic() | ||
217 | inline function before writing up the syscalls (that function returns | ||
218 | -ENOSYS right now). | ||
diff --git a/Documentation/rpc-cache.txt b/Documentation/rpc-cache.txt index 2b5d4434fa5a..5f757c8cf979 100644 --- a/Documentation/rpc-cache.txt +++ b/Documentation/rpc-cache.txt | |||
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ | |||
1 | This document gives a brief introduction to the caching | 1 | This document gives a brief introduction to the caching |
2 | mechanisms in the sunrpc layer that is used, in particular, | 2 | mechanisms in the sunrpc layer that is used, in particular, |
3 | for NFS authentication. | 3 | for NFS authentication. |
4 | 4 | ||
@@ -25,25 +25,17 @@ The common code handles such things as: | |||
25 | - supporting 'NEGATIVE' as well as positive entries | 25 | - supporting 'NEGATIVE' as well as positive entries |
26 | - allowing an EXPIRED time on cache items, and removing | 26 | - allowing an EXPIRED time on cache items, and removing |
27 | items after they expire, and are no longe in-use. | 27 | items after they expire, and are no longe in-use. |
28 | |||
29 | Future code extensions are expect to handle | ||
30 | - making requests to user-space to fill in cache entries | 28 | - making requests to user-space to fill in cache entries |
31 | - allowing user-space to directly set entries in the cache | 29 | - allowing user-space to directly set entries in the cache |
32 | - delaying RPC requests that depend on as-yet incomplete | 30 | - delaying RPC requests that depend on as-yet incomplete |
33 | cache entries, and replaying those requests when the cache entry | 31 | cache entries, and replaying those requests when the cache entry |
34 | is complete. | 32 | is complete. |
35 | - maintaining last-access times on cache entries | 33 | - clean out old entries as they expire. |
36 | - clean out old entries when the caches become full | ||
37 | |||
38 | The code for performing a cache lookup is also common, but in the form | ||
39 | of a template. i.e. a #define. | ||
40 | Each cache defines a lookup function by using the DefineCacheLookup | ||
41 | macro, or the simpler DefineSimpleCacheLookup macro | ||
42 | 34 | ||
43 | Creating a Cache | 35 | Creating a Cache |
44 | ---------------- | 36 | ---------------- |
45 | 37 | ||
46 | 1/ A cache needs a datum to cache. This is in the form of a | 38 | 1/ A cache needs a datum to store. This is in the form of a |
47 | structure definition that must contain a | 39 | structure definition that must contain a |
48 | struct cache_head | 40 | struct cache_head |
49 | as an element, usually the first. | 41 | as an element, usually the first. |
@@ -51,35 +43,69 @@ Creating a Cache | |||
51 | Each cache element is reference counted and contains | 43 | Each cache element is reference counted and contains |
52 | expiry and update times for use in cache management. | 44 | expiry and update times for use in cache management. |
53 | 2/ A cache needs a "cache_detail" structure that | 45 | 2/ A cache needs a "cache_detail" structure that |
54 | describes the cache. This stores the hash table, and some | 46 | describes the cache. This stores the hash table, some |
55 | parameters for cache management. | 47 | parameters for cache management, and some operations detailing how |
56 | 3/ A cache needs a lookup function. This is created using | 48 | to work with particular cache items. |
57 | the DefineCacheLookup macro. This lookup function is used both | 49 | The operations requires are: |
58 | to find entries and to update entries. The normal mode for | 50 | struct cache_head *alloc(void) |
59 | updating an entry is to replace the old entry with a new | 51 | This simply allocates appropriate memory and returns |
60 | entry. However it is possible to allow update-in-place | 52 | a pointer to the cache_detail embedded within the |
61 | for those caches where it makes sense (no atomicity issues | 53 | structure |
62 | or indirect reference counting issue) | 54 | void cache_put(struct kref *) |
63 | 4/ A cache needs to be registered using cache_register(). This | 55 | This is called when the last reference to an item is |
64 | includes in on a list of caches that will be regularly | 56 | is dropped. The pointer passed is to the 'ref' field |
65 | cleaned to discard old data. For this to work, some | 57 | in the cache_head. cache_put should release any |
66 | thread must periodically call cache_clean | 58 | references create by 'cache_init' and, if CACHE_VALID |
67 | 59 | is set, any references created by cache_update. | |
60 | It should then release the memory allocated by | ||
61 | 'alloc'. | ||
62 | int match(struct cache_head *orig, struct cache_head *new) | ||
63 | test if the keys in the two structures match. Return | ||
64 | 1 if they do, 0 if they don't. | ||
65 | void init(struct cache_head *orig, struct cache_head *new) | ||
66 | Set the 'key' fields in 'new' from 'orig'. This may | ||
67 | include taking references to shared objects. | ||
68 | void update(struct cache_head *orig, struct cache_head *new) | ||
69 | Set the 'content' fileds in 'new' from 'orig'. | ||
70 | int cache_show(struct seq_file *m, struct cache_detail *cd, | ||
71 | struct cache_head *h) | ||
72 | Optional. Used to provide a /proc file that lists the | ||
73 | contents of a cache. This should show one item, | ||
74 | usually on just one line. | ||
75 | int cache_request(struct cache_detail *cd, struct cache_head *h, | ||
76 | char **bpp, int *blen) | ||
77 | Format a request to be send to user-space for an item | ||
78 | to be instantiated. *bpp is a buffer of size *blen. | ||
79 | bpp should be moved forward over the encoded message, | ||
80 | and *blen should be reduced to show how much free | ||
81 | space remains. Return 0 on success or <0 if not | ||
82 | enough room or other problem. | ||
83 | int cache_parse(struct cache_detail *cd, char *buf, int len) | ||
84 | A message from user space has arrived to fill out a | ||
85 | cache entry. It is in 'buf' of length 'len'. | ||
86 | cache_parse should parse this, find the item in the | ||
87 | cache with sunrpc_cache_lookup, and update the item | ||
88 | with sunrpc_cache_update. | ||
89 | |||
90 | |||
91 | 3/ A cache needs to be registered using cache_register(). This | ||
92 | includes it on a list of caches that will be regularly | ||
93 | cleaned to discard old data. | ||
94 | |||
68 | Using a cache | 95 | Using a cache |
69 | ------------- | 96 | ------------- |
70 | 97 | ||
71 | To find a value in a cache, call the lookup function passing it a the | 98 | To find a value in a cache, call sunrpc_cache_lookup passing a pointer |
72 | datum which contains key, and possibly content, and a flag saying | 99 | to the cache_head in a sample item with the 'key' fields filled in. |
73 | whether to update the cache with new data from the datum. Depending | 100 | This will be passed to ->match to identify the target entry. If no |
74 | on how the cache lookup function was defined, it may take an extra | 101 | entry is found, a new entry will be create, added to the cache, and |
75 | argument to identify the particular cache in question. | 102 | marked as not containing valid data. |
76 | 103 | ||
77 | Except in cases of kmalloc failure, the lookup function | 104 | The item returned is typically passed to cache_check which will check |
78 | will return a new datum which will store the key and | 105 | if the data is valid, and may initiate an up-call to get fresh data. |
79 | may contain valid content, or may not. | 106 | cache_check will return -ENOENT in the entry is negative or if an up |
80 | This datum is typically passed to cache_check which determines the | 107 | call is needed but not possible, -EAGAIN if an upcall is pending, |
81 | validity of the datum and may later initiate an upcall to fill | 108 | or 0 if the data is valid; |
82 | in the data. | ||
83 | 109 | ||
84 | cache_check can be passed a "struct cache_req *". This structure is | 110 | cache_check can be passed a "struct cache_req *". This structure is |
85 | typically embedded in the actual request and can be used to create a | 111 | typically embedded in the actual request and can be used to create a |
@@ -90,6 +116,13 @@ item does become valid, the deferred copy of the request will be | |||
90 | revisited (->revisit). It is expected that this method will | 116 | revisited (->revisit). It is expected that this method will |
91 | reschedule the request for processing. | 117 | reschedule the request for processing. |
92 | 118 | ||
119 | The value returned by sunrpc_cache_lookup can also be passed to | ||
120 | sunrpc_cache_update to set the content for the item. A second item is | ||
121 | passed which should hold the content. If the item found by _lookup | ||
122 | has valid data, then it is discarded and a new item is created. This | ||
123 | saves any user of an item from worrying about content changing while | ||
124 | it is being inspected. If the item found by _lookup does not contain | ||
125 | valid data, then the content is copied across and CACHE_VALID is set. | ||
93 | 126 | ||
94 | Populating a cache | 127 | Populating a cache |
95 | ------------------ | 128 | ------------------ |
@@ -114,8 +147,8 @@ should be create or updated to have the given content, and the | |||
114 | expiry time should be set on that item. | 147 | expiry time should be set on that item. |
115 | 148 | ||
116 | Reading from a channel is a bit more interesting. When a cache | 149 | Reading from a channel is a bit more interesting. When a cache |
117 | lookup fail, or when it suceeds but finds an entry that may soon | 150 | lookup fails, or when it succeeds but finds an entry that may soon |
118 | expiry, a request is lodged for that cache item to be updated by | 151 | expire, a request is lodged for that cache item to be updated by |
119 | user-space. These requests appear in the channel file. | 152 | user-space. These requests appear in the channel file. |
120 | 153 | ||
121 | Successive reads will return successive requests. | 154 | Successive reads will return successive requests. |
@@ -130,7 +163,7 @@ Thus a user-space helper is likely to: | |||
130 | write a response | 163 | write a response |
131 | loop. | 164 | loop. |
132 | 165 | ||
133 | If it dies and needs to be restarted, any requests that have not be | 166 | If it dies and needs to be restarted, any requests that have not been |
134 | answered will still appear in the file and will be read by the new | 167 | answered will still appear in the file and will be read by the new |
135 | instance of the helper. | 168 | instance of the helper. |
136 | 169 | ||
@@ -142,10 +175,9 @@ Each cache should also define a "cache_request" method which | |||
142 | takes a cache item and encodes a request into the buffer | 175 | takes a cache item and encodes a request into the buffer |
143 | provided. | 176 | provided. |
144 | 177 | ||
145 | |||
146 | Note: If a cache has no active readers on the channel, and has had not | 178 | Note: If a cache has no active readers on the channel, and has had not |
147 | active readers for more than 60 seconds, further requests will not be | 179 | active readers for more than 60 seconds, further requests will not be |
148 | added to the channel but instead all looks that do not find a valid | 180 | added to the channel but instead all lookups that do not find a valid |
149 | entry will fail. This is partly for backward compatibility: The | 181 | entry will fail. This is partly for backward compatibility: The |
150 | previous nfs exports table was deemed to be authoritative and a | 182 | previous nfs exports table was deemed to be authoritative and a |
151 | failed lookup meant a definite 'no'. | 183 | failed lookup meant a definite 'no'. |
@@ -154,18 +186,17 @@ request/response format | |||
154 | ----------------------- | 186 | ----------------------- |
155 | 187 | ||
156 | While each cache is free to use it's own format for requests | 188 | While each cache is free to use it's own format for requests |
157 | and responses over channel, the following is recommended are | 189 | and responses over channel, the following is recommended as |
158 | appropriate and support routines are available to help: | 190 | appropriate and support routines are available to help: |
159 | Each request or response record should be printable ASCII | 191 | Each request or response record should be printable ASCII |
160 | with precisely one newline character which should be at the end. | 192 | with precisely one newline character which should be at the end. |
161 | Fields within the record should be separated by spaces, normally one. | 193 | Fields within the record should be separated by spaces, normally one. |
162 | If spaces, newlines, or nul characters are needed in a field they | 194 | If spaces, newlines, or nul characters are needed in a field they |
163 | much be quotes. two mechanisms are available: | 195 | much be quoted. two mechanisms are available: |
164 | 1/ If a field begins '\x' then it must contain an even number of | 196 | 1/ If a field begins '\x' then it must contain an even number of |
165 | hex digits, and pairs of these digits provide the bytes in the | 197 | hex digits, and pairs of these digits provide the bytes in the |
166 | field. | 198 | field. |
167 | 2/ otherwise a \ in the field must be followed by 3 octal digits | 199 | 2/ otherwise a \ in the field must be followed by 3 octal digits |
168 | which give the code for a byte. Other characters are treated | 200 | which give the code for a byte. Other characters are treated |
169 | as them selves. At the very least, space, newlines nul, and | 201 | as them selves. At the very least, space, newline, nul, and |
170 | '\' must be quoted in this way. | 202 | '\' must be quoted in this way. |
171 | |||