[patch 05/20] posix-timers: Add comments about timer lookup

[Thomas Gleixner]

Document how the timer ID validation in the hash table works.

Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
 kernel/time/posix-timers.c |   39 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
 1 file changed, 32 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

--- a/kernel/time/posix-timers.c
+++ b/kernel/time/posix-timers.c
@@ -505,6 +505,12 @@ static int do_timer_create(clockid_t whi
 		return -EAGAIN;
 
 	spin_lock_init(&new_timer->it_lock);
+
+	/*
+	 * Add the timer to the hash table. The timer is not yet valid
+	 * because new_timer::it_signal is still NULL. The timer id is also
+	 * not yet visible to user space.
+	 */
 	new_timer_id = posix_timer_add(new_timer);
 	if (new_timer_id < 0) {
 		error = new_timer_id;
@@ -550,6 +556,7 @@ static int do_timer_create(clockid_t whi
 		goto out;
 
 	spin_lock_irq(&current->sighand->siglock);
+	/* This makes the timer valid in the hash table */
 	new_timer->it_signal = current->signal;
 	list_add(&new_timer->list, &current->signal->posix_timers);
 	spin_unlock_irq(&current->sighand->siglock);
@@ -596,13 +603,6 @@ COMPAT_SYSCALL_DEFINE3(timer_create, clo
 }
 #endif
 
-/*
- * Locking issues: We need to protect the result of the id look up until
- * we get the timer locked down so it is not deleted under us.  The
- * removal is done under the idr spinlock so we use that here to bridge
- * the find to the timer lock.  To avoid a dead lock, the timer id MUST
- * be release with out holding the timer lock.
- */
 static struct k_itimer *__lock_timer(timer_t timer_id, unsigned long *flags)
 {
 	struct k_itimer *timr;
@@ -614,10 +614,35 @@ static struct k_itimer *__lock_timer(tim
 	if ((unsigned long long)timer_id > INT_MAX)
 		return NULL;
 
+	/*
+	 * The hash lookup and the timers are RCU protected.
+	 *
+	 * Timers are added to the hash in invalid state where
+	 * timr::it_signal == NULL. timer::it_signal is only set after the
+	 * rest of the initialization succeeded.
+	 *
+	 * Timer destruction happens in steps:
+	 *  1) Set timr::it_signal to NULL with timr::it_lock held
+	 *  2) Release timr::it_lock
+	 *  3) Remove from the hash under hash_lock
+	 *  4) Call RCU for removal after the grace period
+	 *
+	 * Holding rcu_read_lock() accross the lookup ensures that
+	 * the timer cannot be freed.
+	 *
+	 * The lookup validates locklessly that timr::it_signal ==
+	 * current::it_signal and timr::it_id == @timer_id. timr::it_id
+	 * can't change, but timr::it_signal becomes NULL during
+	 * destruction.
+	 */
 	rcu_read_lock();
 	timr = posix_timer_by_id(timer_id);
 	if (timr) {
 		spin_lock_irqsave(&timr->it_lock, *flags);
+		/*
+		 * Validate under timr::it_lock that timr::it_signal is
+		 * still valid. Pairs with #1 above.
+		 */
 		if (timr->it_signal == current->signal) {
 			rcu_read_unlock();
 			return timr;