1 files changed, 121 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/pi-futex.txt b/Documentation/pi-futex.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5d61dacd21f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/pi-futex.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+Lightweight PI-futexes
+----------------------
+
+We are calling them lightweight for 3 reasons:
+
+ - in the user-space fastpath a PI-enabled futex involves no kernel work
+   (or any other PI complexity) at all. No registration, no extra kernel
+   calls - just pure fast atomic ops in userspace.
+
+ - even in the slowpath, the system call and scheduling pattern is very
+   similar to normal futexes.
+
+ - the in-kernel PI implementation is streamlined around the mutex
+   abstraction, with strict rules that keep the implementation
+   relatively simple: only a single owner may own a lock (i.e. no
+   read-write lock support), only the owner may unlock a lock, no
+   recursive locking, etc.
+
+Priority Inheritance - why?
+---------------------------
+
+The short reply: user-space PI helps achieving/improving determinism for
+user-space applications. In the best-case, it can help achieve
+determinism and well-bound latencies. Even in the worst-case, PI will
+improve the statistical distribution of locking related application
+delays.
+
+The longer reply:
+-----------------
+
+Firstly, sharing locks between multiple tasks is a common programming
+technique that often cannot be replaced with lockless algorithms. As we
+can see it in the kernel [which is a quite complex program in itself],
+lockless structures are rather the exception than the norm - the current
+ratio of lockless vs. locky code for shared data structures is somewhere
+between 1:10 and 1:100. Lockless is hard, and the complexity of lockless
+algorithms often endangers to ability to do robust reviews of said code.
+I.e. critical RT apps often choose lock structures to protect critical
+data structures, instead of lockless algorithms. Furthermore, there are
+cases (like shared hardware, or other resource limits) where lockless
+access is mathematically impossible.
+
+Media players (such as Jack) are an example of reasonable application
+design with multiple tasks (with multiple priority levels) sharing
+short-held locks: for example, a highprio audio playback thread is
+combined with medium-prio construct-audio-data threads and low-prio
+display-colory-stuff threads. Add video and decoding to the mix and
+we've got even more priority levels.
+
+So once we accept that synchronization objects (locks) are an
+unavoidable fact of life, and once we accept that multi-task userspace
+apps have a very fair expectation of being able to use locks, we've got
+to think about how to offer the option of a deterministic locking
+implementation to user-space.
+
+Most of the technical counter-arguments against doing priority
+inheritance only apply to kernel-space locks. But user-space locks are
+different, there we cannot disable interrupts or make the task
+non-preemptible in a critical section, so the 'use spinlocks' argument
+does not apply (user-space spinlocks have the same priority inversion
+problems as other user-space locking constructs). Fact is, pretty much
+the only technique that currently enables good determinism for userspace
+locks (such as futex-based pthread mutexes) is priority inheritance:
+
+Currently (without PI), if a high-prio and a low-prio task shares a lock
+[this is a quite common scenario for most non-trivial RT applications],
+even if all critical sections are coded carefully to be deterministic
+(i.e. all critical sections are short in duration and only execute a
+limited number of instructions), the kernel cannot guarantee any
+deterministic execution of the high-prio task: any medium-priority task
+could preempt the low-prio task while it holds the shared lock and
+executes the critical section, and could delay it indefinitely.
+
+Implementation:
+---------------
+
+As mentioned before, the userspace fastpath of PI-enabled pthread
+mutexes involves no kernel work at all - they behave quite similarly to
+normal futex-based locks: a 0 value means unlocked, and a value==TID
+means locked. (This is the same method as used by list-based robust
+futexes.) Userspace uses atomic ops to lock/unlock these mutexes without
+entering the kernel.
+
+To handle the slowpath, we have added two new futex ops:
+
+  FUTEX_LOCK_PI
+  FUTEX_UNLOCK_PI
+
+If the lock-acquire fastpath fails, [i.e. an atomic transition from 0 to
+TID fails], then FUTEX_LOCK_PI is called. The kernel does all the
+remaining work: if there is no futex-queue attached to the futex address
+yet then the code looks up the task that owns the futex [it has put its
+own TID into the futex value], and attaches a 'PI state' structure to
+the futex-queue. The pi_state includes an rt-mutex, which is a PI-aware,
+kernel-based synchronization object. The 'other' task is made the owner
+of the rt-mutex, and the FUTEX_WAITERS bit is atomically set in the
+futex value. Then this task tries to lock the rt-mutex, on which it
+blocks. Once it returns, it has the mutex acquired, and it sets the
+futex value to its own TID and returns. Userspace has no other work to
+perform - it now owns the lock, and futex value contains
+FUTEX_WAITERS|TID.
+
+If the unlock side fastpath succeeds, [i.e. userspace manages to do a
+TID -> 0 atomic transition of the futex value], then no kernel work is
+triggered.
+
+If the unlock fastpath fails (because the FUTEX_WAITERS bit is set),
+then FUTEX_UNLOCK_PI is called, and the kernel unlocks the futex on the
+behalf of userspace - and it also unlocks the attached
+pi_state->rt_mutex and thus wakes up any potential waiters.
+
+Note that under this approach, contrary to previous PI-futex approaches,
+there is no prior 'registration' of a PI-futex. [which is not quite
+possible anyway, due to existing ABI properties of pthread mutexes.]
+
+Also, under this scheme, 'robustness' and 'PI' are two orthogonal
+properties of futexes, and all four combinations are possible: futex,
+robust-futex, PI-futex, robust+PI-futex.
+
+More details about priority inheritance can be found in
+Documentation/rtmutex.txt.