[Xen-devel] Re: [PATCH 13/14] x86/ticketlock: add slowpath logic

[Srivatsa Vaddagiri <vatsa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Nov 16, 2010 at 01:08:44PM -0800, Jeremy Fitzhardinge wrote:
> From: Jeremy Fitzhardinge <jeremy.fitzhardinge@xxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> Maintain a flag in both LSBs of the ticket lock which indicates whether
> anyone is in the lock slowpath and may need kicking when the current
> holder unlocks.  The flags are set when the first locker enters
> the slowpath, and cleared when unlocking to an empty queue.
> 
> In the specific implementation of lock_spinning(), make sure to set
> the slowpath flags on the lock just before blocking.  We must do
> this before the last-chance pickup test to prevent a deadlock
> with the unlocker:
> 
> Unlocker                      Locker
>                               test for lock pickup
>                                       -> fail
> test slowpath + unlock
>       -> false
>                               set slowpath flags
>                               block
> 
> Whereas this works in any ordering:
> 
> Unlocker                      Locker
>                               set slowpath flags
>                               test for lock pickup
>                                       -> fail
>                               block
> test slowpath + unlock
>       -> true, kick

I think this is still racy ..

Unlocker                                Locker

                                
test slowpath
        -> false
                
                                set slowpath flag
                                test for lock pickup
                                        -> fail
                                block


unlock

unlock needs to happen first before testing slowpath? I have made that change
for my KVM guest and it seems to be working well with that change .. Will
cleanup and post my patches shortly

- vatsa

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