linux/kernel
Eric W. Biederman 8c7904a00b [PATCH] task: RCU protect task->usage
A big problem with rcu protected data structures that are also reference
counted is that you must jump through several hoops to increase the reference
count.  I think someone finally implemented atomic_inc_not_zero(&count) to
automate the common case.  Unfortunately this means you must special case the
rcu access case.

When data structures are only visible via rcu in a manner that is not
determined by the reference count on the object (i.e.  tasks are visible until
their zombies are reaped) there is a much simpler technique we can employ.
Simply delaying the decrement of the reference count until the rcu interval is
over.

What that means is that the proc code that looks up a task and later
wants to sleep can now do:

rcu_read_lock();
task = find_task_by_pid(some_pid);
if (task) {
	get_task_struct(task);
}
rcu_read_unlock();

The effect on the rest of the kernel is that put_task_struct becomes cheaper
and immediate, and in the case where the task has been reaped it frees the
task immediate instead of unnecessarily waiting an until the rcu interval is
over.

Cleanup of task_struct does not happen when its reference count drops to
zero, instead cleanup happens when release_task is called.  Tasks can only
be looked up via rcu before release_task is called.  All rcu protected
members of task_struct are freed by release_task.

Therefore we can move call_rcu from put_task_struct into release_task.  And
we can modify release_task to not immediately release the reference count
but instead have it call put_task_struct from the function it gives to
call_rcu.

The end result:

- get_task_struct is safe in an rcu context where we have just looked
  up the task.

- put_task_struct() simplifies into its old pre rcu self.

This reorganization also makes put_task_struct uncallable from modules as
it is not exported but it does not appear to be called from any modules so
this should not be an issue, and is trivially fixed.

Signed-off-by: Eric W. Biederman <ebiederm@xmission.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2006-03-31 12:18:59 -08:00
..
irq [PATCH] warn if free_irq() is called from IRQ context 2006-03-26 08:56:53 -08:00
power [PATCH] Fix suspend with traced tasks 2006-03-31 12:18:50 -08:00
.gitignore gitignore: ignore more generated files 2006-01-03 11:35:26 +01:00
acct.c [PATCH] Fix pacct bug in multithreading case. 2006-03-31 12:18:54 -08:00
audit.c [PATCH] Don't pass boot parameters to argv_init[] 2006-03-31 12:18:53 -08:00
audit.h [PATCH] sem2mutex: audit_netlink_sem 2006-03-20 14:08:55 -05:00
auditfilter.c [PATCH] sem2mutex: audit_netlink_sem 2006-03-20 14:08:55 -05:00
auditsc.c Merge branch 'audit.b3' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/viro/audit-current 2006-03-25 09:24:53 -08:00
capability.c [PATCH] refactor capable() to one implementation, add __capable() helper 2006-03-25 08:22:56 -08:00
compat.c [PATCH] lightweight robust futexes: compat 2006-03-27 08:44:49 -08:00
configs.c update the email address of Randy Dunlap 2006-01-03 13:37:51 +01:00
cpu.c [PATCH] Notifier chain update: API changes 2006-03-27 08:44:50 -08:00
cpuset.c [PATCH] cpuset: memory migration interaction fix 2006-03-31 12:18:55 -08:00
dma.c Linux-2.6.12-rc2 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07:00
exec_domain.c [PATCH] Fix module refcount leak in __set_personality() 2006-03-24 07:33:30 -08:00
exit.c [PATCH] task: RCU protect task->usage 2006-03-31 12:18:59 -08:00
extable.c Linux-2.6.12-rc2 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07:00
fork.c [PATCH] resurrect __put_task_struct 2006-03-31 12:18:59 -08:00
futex_compat.c [PATCH] futex: check and validate timevals 2006-03-31 12:18:59 -08:00
futex.c [PATCH] futex: check and validate timevals 2006-03-31 12:18:59 -08:00
hrtimer.c [PATCH] hrtimer: call get_softirq_time() only when necessary in run_hrtimer_queue() 2006-03-31 12:18:58 -08:00
intermodule.c [PATCH] missing license tag in intermodule 2006-02-05 11:06:52 -08:00
itimer.c [PATCH] hrtimers: remove data field 2006-03-26 08:57:03 -08:00
kallsyms.c [PATCH] fix missing includes 2005-10-30 17:37:32 -08:00
Kconfig.hz [PATCH] i386: Selectable Frequency of the Timer Interrupt 2005-06-23 09:45:10 -07:00
Kconfig.preempt [PATCH] sched: voluntary kernel preemption 2005-06-25 16:24:45 -07:00
kexec.c [PATCH] move capable() to capability.h 2006-01-11 18:42:13 -08:00
kfifo.c [PATCH] gfp flags annotations - part 1 2005-10-08 15:00:57 -07:00
kmod.c [PATCH] wait_for_helper: trivial style cleanup 2006-03-28 18:36:41 -08:00
kprobes.c [PATCH] kretprobe instance recycled by parent process 2006-03-26 08:57:04 -08:00
ksysfs.c [PATCH] fix build error if CONFIG_SYSFS=n 2006-03-24 07:33:31 -08:00
kthread.c [PATCH] find_task_by_pid() needs tasklist_lock 2006-03-25 08:22:57 -08:00
Makefile [PATCH] lightweight robust futexes: compat 2006-03-27 08:44:49 -08:00
module.c [PATCH] modules: permit Dual-MIT/GPL licenses 2006-03-31 12:18:56 -08:00
mutex-debug.c [PATCH] fix/simplify mutex debugging code 2006-01-11 08:14:16 -08:00
mutex-debug.h [PATCH] mutex subsystem, debugging code 2006-01-09 15:59:20 -08:00
mutex.c [PATCH] mutex: trivial whitespace cleanups 2006-01-10 14:27:59 -08:00
mutex.h [PATCH] mutex subsystem, core 2006-01-09 15:59:19 -08:00
panic.c [PATCH] Notifier chain update: API changes 2006-03-27 08:44:50 -08:00
params.c [PATCH] Change dash2underscore() return value to char 2006-03-28 09:16:03 -08:00
pid.c [PATCH] pidhash: don't count idle threads 2006-03-28 18:36:41 -08:00
posix-cpu-timers.c [PATCH] hrtimer: switch clock_nanosleep to hrtimer nanosleep API 2006-01-10 08:01:38 -08:00
posix-timers.c [PATCH] hrtimers: remove data field 2006-03-26 08:57:03 -08:00
printk.c [PATCH] console_setup() depends (wrongly?) on CONFIG_PRINTK 2006-03-24 07:33:27 -08:00
profile.c [PATCH] Notifier chain update: API changes 2006-03-27 08:44:50 -08:00
ptrace.c [PATCH] don't use REMOVE_LINKS/SET_LINKS for reparenting 2006-03-28 18:36:41 -08:00
rcupdate.c [PATCH] rcu_process_callbacks: don't cli() while testing ->nxtlist 2006-03-24 07:33:20 -08:00
rcutorture.c [PATCH] for_each_possible_cpu: fixes for generic part 2006-03-28 09:16:05 -08:00
relay.c [PATCH] relay: consolidate sendfile() and read() code 2006-03-23 19:58:45 +01:00
resource.c [PATCH] kernel/resource.c: __check_region(): remove pointless __deprecated 2006-01-10 08:02:02 -08:00
sched.c [PATCH] sched: activate SCHED BATCH expired 2006-03-31 12:18:59 -08:00
seccomp.c Linux-2.6.12-rc2 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07:00
signal.c [PATCH] Fix suspend with traced tasks 2006-03-31 12:18:50 -08:00
softirq.c [PATCH] on_each_cpu(): disable local interrupts 2006-03-22 07:53:59 -08:00
softlockup.c [PATCH] Notifier chain update: API changes 2006-03-27 08:44:50 -08:00
spinlock.c [PATCH] BUILD_LOCK_OPS: cleanup preempt_disable() usage 2006-03-23 07:38:16 -08:00
stop_machine.c [PATCH] Remove set_fs() in stop_machine() 2006-01-10 08:01:25 -08:00
sys_ni.c [PATCH] lightweight robust futexes: core 2006-03-27 08:44:49 -08:00
sys.c [PATCH] Make setsid() more robust 2006-03-31 12:18:59 -08:00
sysctl.c [PATCH] Range checking in do_proc_dointvec_(userhz_)jiffies_conv 2006-03-24 07:33:20 -08:00
time.c [PATCH] hrtimers: remove nsec_t typedef 2006-03-26 08:57:03 -08:00
timer.c [PATCH] sched: reduce overhead of calc_load 2006-03-31 12:18:58 -08:00
uid16.c [PATCH] move capable() to capability.h 2006-01-11 18:42:13 -08:00
user.c [PATCH] free_uid() locking improvement 2006-03-24 07:33:20 -08:00
wait.c Linux-2.6.12-rc2 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07:00
workqueue.c [SCSI] add execute_in_process_context() API 2006-02-27 23:34:40 -06:00