Re: [PATCH V4 2/2] rcu: Update jiffies in rcu_cpu_stall_reset()

[Joel Fernandes]

On Sun, Aug 27, 2023 at 1:51 AM Huacai Chen <chenhuacai@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
[..]
> > > > > The only way I know of to avoid these sorts of false positives is for
> > > > > the user to manually suppress all timeouts (perhaps using a kernel-boot
> > > > > parameter for your early-boot case), do the gdb work, and then unsuppress
> > > > > all stalls.  Even that won't work for networking, because the other
> > > > > system's clock will be running throughout.
> > > > >
> > > > > In other words, from what I know now, there is no perfect solution.
> > > > > Therefore, there are sharp limits to the complexity of any solution that
> > > > > I will be willing to accept.
> > > > I think the simplest solution is (I hope Joel will not angry):
> > >
> > > Not angry at all, just want to help. ;-). The problem is the 300*HZ solution
> > > will also effect the VM workloads which also do a similar reset.  Allow me few
> > > days to see if I can take a shot at fixing it slightly differently. I am
> > > trying Paul's idea of setting jiffies at a later time. I think it is doable.
> > > I think the advantage of doing this is it will make stall detection more
> > > robust in this face of these gaps in jiffie update. And that solution does
> > > not even need us to rely on ktime (and all the issues that come with that).
> > >
> >
> > I wrote a patch similar to Paul's idea and sent it out for review, the
> > advantage being it purely is based on jiffies. Could you try it out
> > and let me know?
> If you can cc my gmail <chenhuacai@xxxxxxxxx>, that could be better.

Sure, will do.

>
> I have read your patch, maybe the counter (nr_fqs_jiffies_stall)
> should be atomic_t and we should use atomic operation to decrement its
> value. Because rcu_gp_fqs() can be run concurrently, and we may miss
> the (nr_fqs == 1) condition.

I don't think so. There is only 1 place where RMW operation happens
and rcu_gp_fqs() is called only from the GP kthread. So a concurrent
RMW (and hence a lost update) is not possible.

Could you test the patch for the issue you are seeing and provide your
Tested-by tag? Thanks,

 - Joel