[PATCH] Add SRCU-based notifier chains

This patch (as751) adds a new type of notifier chain, based on the SRCU
(Sleepable Read-Copy Update) primitives recently added to the kernel.  An
SRCU notifier chain is much like a blocking notifier chain, in that it must
be called in process context and its callout routines are allowed to sleep.
 The difference is that the chain's links are protected by the SRCU
mechanism rather than by an rw-semaphore, so calling the chain has
extremely low overhead: no memory barriers and no cache-line bouncing.  On
the other hand, unregistering from the chain is expensive and the chain
head requires special runtime initialization (plus cleanup if it is to be
deallocated).

SRCU notifiers are appropriate for notifiers that will be called very
frequently and for which unregistration occurs very seldom.  The proposed
"task notifier" scheme qualifies, as may some of the network notifiers.

Signed-off-by: Alan Stern <stern@rowland.harvard.edu>
Acked-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@us.ibm.com>
Acked-by: Chandra Seetharaman <sekharan@us.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>

1 files changed, 38 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/include/linux/notifier.h b/include/linux/notifier.h
index 7ff386a6ae8..10a43ed0527 100644
--- a/include/linux/notifier.h
+++ b/include/linux/notifier.h
@@ -12,9 +12,10 @@
 #include <linux/errno.h>
 #include <linux/mutex.h>
 #include <linux/rwsem.h>
+#include <linux/srcu.h>
 
 /*
- * Notifier chains are of three types:
+ * Notifier chains are of four types:
  *
  *	Atomic notifier chains: Chain callbacks run in interrupt/atomic
  *		context. Callouts are not allowed to block.
@@ -23,13 +24,27 @@
  *	Raw notifier chains: There are no restrictions on callbacks,
  *		registration, or unregistration.  All locking and protection
  *		must be provided by the caller.
+ *	SRCU notifier chains: A variant of blocking notifier chains, with
+ *		the same restrictions.
  *
  * atomic_notifier_chain_register() may be called from an atomic context,
- * but blocking_notifier_chain_register() must be called from a process
- * context.  Ditto for the corresponding _unregister() routines.
+ * but blocking_notifier_chain_register() and srcu_notifier_chain_register()
+ * must be called from a process context.  Ditto for the corresponding
+ * _unregister() routines.
  *
- * atomic_notifier_chain_unregister() and blocking_notifier_chain_unregister()
- * _must not_ be called from within the call chain.
+ * atomic_notifier_chain_unregister(), blocking_notifier_chain_unregister(),
+ * and srcu_notifier_chain_unregister() _must not_ be called from within
+ * the call chain.
+ *
+ * SRCU notifier chains are an alternative form of blocking notifier chains.
+ * They use SRCU (Sleepable Read-Copy Update) instead of rw-semaphores for
+ * protection of the chain links.  This means there is _very_ low overhead
+ * in srcu_notifier_call_chain(): no cache bounces and no memory barriers.
+ * As compensation, srcu_notifier_chain_unregister() is rather expensive.
+ * SRCU notifier chains should be used when the chain will be called very
+ * often but notifier_blocks will seldom be removed.  Also, SRCU notifier
+ * chains are slightly more difficult to use because they require special
+ * runtime initialization.
  */
 
 struct notifier_block {
@@ -52,6 +67,12 @@ struct raw_notifier_head {
 	struct notifier_block *head;
 };
 
+struct srcu_notifier_head {
+	struct mutex mutex;
+	struct srcu_struct srcu;
+	struct notifier_block *head;
+};
+
 #define ATOMIC_INIT_NOTIFIER_HEAD(name) do {	\
 		spin_lock_init(&(name)->lock);	\
 		(name)->head = NULL;		\
@@ -64,6 +85,11 @@ struct raw_notifier_head {
 		(name)->head = NULL;		\
 	} while (0)
 
+/* srcu_notifier_heads must be initialized and cleaned up dynamically */
+extern void srcu_init_notifier_head(struct srcu_notifier_head *nh);
+#define srcu_cleanup_notifier_head(name)	\
+		cleanup_srcu_struct(&(name)->srcu);
+
 #define ATOMIC_NOTIFIER_INIT(name) {				\
 		.lock = __SPIN_LOCK_UNLOCKED(name.lock),	\
 		.head = NULL }
@@ -72,6 +98,7 @@ struct raw_notifier_head {
 		.head = NULL }
 #define RAW_NOTIFIER_INIT(name)	{				\
 		.head = NULL }
+/* srcu_notifier_heads cannot be initialized statically */
 
 #define ATOMIC_NOTIFIER_HEAD(name)				\
 	struct atomic_notifier_head name =			\
@@ -91,6 +118,8 @@ extern int blocking_notifier_chain_register(struct blocking_notifier_head *,
 		struct notifier_block *);
 extern int raw_notifier_chain_register(struct raw_notifier_head *,
 		struct notifier_block *);
+extern int srcu_notifier_chain_register(struct srcu_notifier_head *,
+		struct notifier_block *);
 
 extern int atomic_notifier_chain_unregister(struct atomic_notifier_head *,
 		struct notifier_block *);
@@ -98,6 +127,8 @@ extern int blocking_notifier_chain_unregister(struct blocking_notifier_head *,
 		struct notifier_block *);
 extern int raw_notifier_chain_unregister(struct raw_notifier_head *,
 		struct notifier_block *);
+extern int srcu_notifier_chain_unregister(struct srcu_notifier_head *,
+		struct notifier_block *);
 
 extern int atomic_notifier_call_chain(struct atomic_notifier_head *,
 		unsigned long val, void *v);
@@ -105,6 +136,8 @@ extern int blocking_notifier_call_chain(struct blocking_notifier_head *,
 		unsigned long val, void *v);
 extern int raw_notifier_call_chain(struct raw_notifier_head *,
 		unsigned long val, void *v);
+extern int srcu_notifier_call_chain(struct srcu_notifier_head *,
+		unsigned long val, void *v);
 
 #define NOTIFY_DONE		0x0000		/* Don't care */
 #define NOTIFY_OK		0x0001		/* Suits me */