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diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/dentry-locking.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/dentry-locking.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 79334ed5daa..00000000000 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/dentry-locking.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,174 +0,0 @@ -RCU-based dcache locking model -============================== - -On many workloads, the most common operation on dcache is to look up a -dentry, given a parent dentry and the name of the child. Typically, -for every open(), stat() etc., the dentry corresponding to the -pathname will be looked up by walking the tree starting with the first -component of the pathname and using that dentry along with the next -component to look up the next level and so on. Since it is a frequent -operation for workloads like multiuser environments and web servers, -it is important to optimize this path. - -Prior to 2.5.10, dcache_lock was acquired in d_lookup and thus in -every component during path look-up. Since 2.5.10 onwards, fast-walk -algorithm changed this by holding the dcache_lock at the beginning and -walking as many cached path component dentries as possible. This -significantly decreases the number of acquisition of -dcache_lock. However it also increases the lock hold time -significantly and affects performance in large SMP machines. Since -2.5.62 kernel, dcache has been using a new locking model that uses RCU -to make dcache look-up lock-free. - -The current dcache locking model is not very different from the -existing dcache locking model. Prior to 2.5.62 kernel, dcache_lock -protected the hash chain, d_child, d_alias, d_lru lists as well as -d_inode and several other things like mount look-up. RCU-based changes -affect only the way the hash chain is protected. For everything else -the dcache_lock must be taken for both traversing as well as -updating. The hash chain updates too take the dcache_lock. The -significant change is the way d_lookup traverses the hash chain, it -doesn't acquire the dcache_lock for this and rely on RCU to ensure -that the dentry has not been *freed*. - - -Dcache locking details -====================== - -For many multi-user workloads, open() and stat() on files are very -frequently occurring operations. Both involve walking of path names to -find the dentry corresponding to the concerned file. In 2.4 kernel, -dcache_lock was held during look-up of each path component. Contention -and cache-line bouncing of this global lock caused significant -scalability problems. With the introduction of RCU in Linux kernel, -this was worked around by making the look-up of path components during -path walking lock-free. - - -Safe lock-free look-up of dcache hash table -=========================================== - -Dcache is a complex data structure with the hash table entries also -linked together in other lists. In 2.4 kernel, dcache_lock protected -all the lists. We applied RCU only on hash chain walking. The rest of -the lists are still protected by dcache_lock. Some of the important -changes are : - -1. The deletion from hash chain is done using hlist_del_rcu() macro - which doesn't initialize next pointer of the deleted dentry and - this allows us to walk safely lock-free while a deletion is - happening. - -2. Insertion of a dentry into the hash table is done using - hlist_add_head_rcu() which take care of ordering the writes - the - writes to the dentry must be visible before the dentry is - inserted. This works in conjunction with hlist_for_each_rcu(), - which has since been replaced by hlist_for_each_entry_rcu(), while - walking the hash chain. The only requirement is that all - initialization to the dentry must be done before - hlist_add_head_rcu() since we don't have dcache_lock protection - while traversing the hash chain. This isn't different from the - existing code. - -3. The dentry looked up without holding dcache_lock by cannot be - returned for walking if it is unhashed. It then may have a NULL - d_inode or other bogosity since RCU doesn't protect the other - fields in the dentry. We therefore use a flag DCACHE_UNHASHED to - indicate unhashed dentries and use this in conjunction with a - per-dentry lock (d_lock). Once looked up without the dcache_lock, - we acquire the per-dentry lock (d_lock) and check if the dentry is - unhashed. If so, the look-up is failed. If not, the reference count - of the dentry is increased and the dentry is returned. - -4. Once a dentry is looked up, it must be ensured during the path walk - for that component it doesn't go away. In pre-2.5.10 code, this was - done holding a reference to the dentry. dcache_rcu does the same. - In some sense, dcache_rcu path walking looks like the pre-2.5.10 - version. - -5. All dentry hash chain updates must take the dcache_lock as well as - the per-dentry lock in that order. dput() does this to ensure that - a dentry that has just been looked up in another CPU doesn't get - deleted before dget() can be done on it. - -6. There are several ways to do reference counting of RCU protected - objects. One such example is in ipv4 route cache where deferred - freeing (using call_rcu()) is done as soon as the reference count - goes to zero. This cannot be done in the case of dentries because - tearing down of dentries require blocking (dentry_iput()) which - isn't supported from RCU callbacks. Instead, tearing down of - dentries happen synchronously in dput(), but actual freeing happens - later when RCU grace period is over. This allows safe lock-free - walking of the hash chains, but a matched dentry may have been - partially torn down. The checking of DCACHE_UNHASHED flag with - d_lock held detects such dentries and prevents them from being - returned from look-up. - - -Maintaining POSIX rename semantics -================================== - -Since look-up of dentries is lock-free, it can race against a -concurrent rename operation. For example, during rename of file A to -B, look-up of either A or B must succeed. So, if look-up of B happens -after A has been removed from the hash chain but not added to the new -hash chain, it may fail. Also, a comparison while the name is being -written concurrently by a rename may result in false positive matches -violating rename semantics. Issues related to race with rename are -handled as described below : - -1. Look-up can be done in two ways - d_lookup() which is safe from - simultaneous renames and __d_lookup() which is not. If - __d_lookup() fails, it must be followed up by a d_lookup() to - correctly determine whether a dentry is in the hash table or - not. d_lookup() protects look-ups using a sequence lock - (rename_lock). - -2. The name associated with a dentry (d_name) may be changed if a - rename is allowed to happen simultaneously. To avoid memcmp() in - __d_lookup() go out of bounds due to a rename and false positive - comparison, the name comparison is done while holding the - per-dentry lock. This prevents concurrent renames during this - operation. - -3. Hash table walking during look-up may move to a different bucket as - the current dentry is moved to a different bucket due to rename. - But we use hlists in dcache hash table and they are - null-terminated. So, even if a dentry moves to a different bucket, - hash chain walk will terminate. [with a list_head list, it may not - since termination is when the list_head in the original bucket is - reached]. Since we redo the d_parent check and compare name while - holding d_lock, lock-free look-up will not race against d_move(). - -4. There can be a theoretical race when a dentry keeps coming back to - original bucket due to double moves. Due to this look-up may - consider that it has never moved and can end up in a infinite loop. - But this is not any worse that theoretical livelocks we already - have in the kernel. - - -Important guidelines for filesystem developers related to dcache_rcu -==================================================================== - -1. Existing dcache interfaces (pre-2.5.62) exported to filesystem - don't change. Only dcache internal implementation changes. However - filesystems *must not* delete from the dentry hash chains directly - using the list macros like allowed earlier. They must use dcache - APIs like d_drop() or __d_drop() depending on the situation. - -2. d_flags is now protected by a per-dentry lock (d_lock). All access - to d_flags must be protected by it. - -3. For a hashed dentry, checking of d_count needs to be protected by - d_lock. - - -Papers and other documentation on dcache locking -================================================ - -1. Scaling dcache with RCU (http://linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7124). - -2. http://lse.sourceforge.net/locking/dcache/dcache.html - - - |