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| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/lockdep-design.txt | 197 |
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diff --git a/Documentation/lockdep-design.txt b/Documentation/lockdep-design.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..00d93605bfd3 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/lockdep-design.txt @@ -0,0 +1,197 @@ +Runtime locking correctness validator +===================================== + +started by Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com> +additions by Arjan van de Ven <arjan@linux.intel.com> + +Lock-class +---------- + +The basic object the validator operates upon is a 'class' of locks. + +A class of locks is a group of locks that are logically the same with +respect to locking rules, even if the locks may have multiple (possibly +tens of thousands of) instantiations. For example a lock in the inode +struct is one class, while each inode has its own instantiation of that +lock class. + +The validator tracks the 'state' of lock-classes, and it tracks +dependencies between different lock-classes. The validator maintains a +rolling proof that the state and the dependencies are correct. + +Unlike an lock instantiation, the lock-class itself never goes away: when +a lock-class is used for the first time after bootup it gets registered, +and all subsequent uses of that lock-class will be attached to this +lock-class. + +State +----- + +The validator tracks lock-class usage history into 5 separate state bits: + +- 'ever held in hardirq context' [ == hardirq-safe ] +- 'ever held in softirq context' [ == softirq-safe ] +- 'ever held with hardirqs enabled' [ == hardirq-unsafe ] +- 'ever held with softirqs and hardirqs enabled' [ == softirq-unsafe ] + +- 'ever used' [ == !unused ] + +Single-lock state rules: +------------------------ + +A softirq-unsafe lock-class is automatically hardirq-unsafe as well. The +following states are exclusive, and only one of them is allowed to be +set for any lock-class: + + <hardirq-safe> and <hardirq-unsafe> + <softirq-safe> and <softirq-unsafe> + +The validator detects and reports lock usage that violate these +single-lock state rules. + +Multi-lock dependency rules: +---------------------------- + +The same lock-class must not be acquired twice, because this could lead +to lock recursion deadlocks. + +Furthermore, two locks may not be taken in different order: + + <L1> -> <L2> + <L2> -> <L1> + +because this could lead to lock inversion deadlocks. (The validator +finds such dependencies in arbitrary complexity, i.e. there can be any +other locking sequence between the acquire-lock operations, the +validator will still track all dependencies between locks.) + +Furthermore, the following usage based lock dependencies are not allowed +between any two lock-classes: + + <hardirq-safe> -> <hardirq-unsafe> + <softirq-safe> -> <softirq-unsafe> + +The first rule comes from the fact the a hardirq-safe lock could be +taken by a hardirq context, interrupting a hardirq-unsafe lock - and +thus could result in a lock inversion deadlock. Likewise, a softirq-safe +lock could be taken by an softirq context, interrupting a softirq-unsafe +lock. + +The above rules are enforced for any locking sequence that occurs in the +kernel: when acquiring a new lock, the validator checks whether there is +any rule violation between the new lock and any of the held locks. + +When a lock-class changes its state, the following aspects of the above +dependency rules are enforced: + +- if a new hardirq-safe lock is discovered, we check whether it + took any hardirq-unsafe lock in the past. + +- if a new softirq-safe lock is discovered, we check whether it took + any softirq-unsafe lock in the past. + +- if a new hardirq-unsafe lock is discovered, we check whether any + hardirq-safe lock took it in the past. + +- if a new softirq-unsafe lock is discovered, we check whether any + softirq-safe lock took it in the past. + +(Again, we do these checks too on the basis that an interrupt context +could interrupt _any_ of the irq-unsafe or hardirq-unsafe locks, which +could lead to a lock inversion deadlock - even if that lock scenario did +not trigger in practice yet.) + +Exception: Nested data dependencies leading to nested locking +------------------------------------------------------------- + +There are a few cases where the Linux kernel acquires more than one +instance of the same lock-class. Such cases typically happen when there +is some sort of hierarchy within objects of the same type. In these +cases there is an inherent "natural" ordering between the two objects +(defined by the properties of the hierarchy), and the kernel grabs the +locks in this fixed order on each of the objects. + +An example of such an object hieararchy that results in "nested locking" +is that of a "whole disk" block-dev object and a "partition" block-dev +object; the partition is "part of" the whole device and as long as one +always takes the whole disk lock as a higher lock than the partition +lock, the lock ordering is fully correct. The validator does not +automatically detect this natural ordering, as the locking rule behind +the ordering is not static. + +In order to teach the validator about this correct usage model, new +versions of the various locking primitives were added that allow you to +specify a "nesting level". An example call, for the block device mutex, +looks like this: + +enum bdev_bd_mutex_lock_class +{ + BD_MUTEX_NORMAL, + BD_MUTEX_WHOLE, + BD_MUTEX_PARTITION +}; + + mutex_lock_nested(&bdev->bd_contains->bd_mutex, BD_MUTEX_PARTITION); + +In this case the locking is done on a bdev object that is known to be a +partition. + +The validator treats a lock that is taken in such a nested fasion as a +separate (sub)class for the purposes of validation. + +Note: When changing code to use the _nested() primitives, be careful and +check really thoroughly that the hiearchy is correctly mapped; otherwise +you can get false positives or false negatives. + +Proof of 100% correctness: +-------------------------- + +The validator achieves perfect, mathematical 'closure' (proof of locking +correctness) in the sense that for every simple, standalone single-task +locking sequence that occured at least once during the lifetime of the +kernel, the validator proves it with a 100% certainty that no +combination and timing of these locking sequences can cause any class of +lock related deadlock. [*] + +I.e. complex multi-CPU and multi-task locking scenarios do not have to +occur in practice to prove a deadlock: only the simple 'component' +locking chains have to occur at least once (anytime, in any +task/context) for the validator to be able to prove correctness. (For +example, complex deadlocks that would normally need more than 3 CPUs and +a very unlikely constellation of tasks, irq-contexts and timings to +occur, can be detected on a plain, lightly loaded single-CPU system as +well!) + +This radically decreases the complexity of locking related QA of the +kernel: what has to be done during QA is to trigger as many "simple" +single-task locking dependencies in the kernel as possible, at least +once, to prove locking correctness - instead of having to trigger every +possible combination of locking interaction between CPUs, combined with +every possible hardirq and softirq nesting scenario (which is impossible +to do in practice). + +[*] assuming that the validator itself is 100% correct, and no other + part of the system corrupts the state of the validator in any way. + We also assume that all NMI/SMM paths [which could interrupt + even hardirq-disabled codepaths] are correct and do not interfere + with the validator. We also assume that the 64-bit 'chain hash' + value is unique for every lock-chain in the system. Also, lock + recursion must not be higher than 20. + +Performance: +------------ + +The above rules require _massive_ amounts of runtime checking. If we did +that for every lock taken and for every irqs-enable event, it would +render the system practically unusably slow. The complexity of checking +is O(N^2), so even with just a few hundred lock-classes we'd have to do +tens of thousands of checks for every event. + +This problem is solved by checking any given 'locking scenario' (unique +sequence of locks taken after each other) only once. A simple stack of +held locks is maintained, and a lightweight 64-bit hash value is +calculated, which hash is unique for every lock chain. The hash value, +when the chain is validated for the first time, is then put into a hash +table, which hash-table can be checked in a lockfree manner. If the +locking chain occurs again later on, the hash table tells us that we +dont have to validate the chain again. |