[lttng-dev] [PATCH] Add ACCESS_ONCE() to avoid compiler splitting assignments

Paul E. McKenney paulmck at linux.vnet.ibm.com
Fri Jan 25 08:53:24 EST 2013


On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 03:51:31PM -0500, Mathieu Desnoyers wrote:
> * Paul E. McKenney (paulmck at linux.vnet.ibm.com) wrote:
> > On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 07:50:54AM -0500, Mathieu Desnoyers wrote:
> > > * Mathieu Desnoyers (mathieu.desnoyers at efficios.com) wrote:
> > > > * Paul E. McKenney (paulmck at linux.vnet.ibm.com) wrote:
> > > > > As noted by Konstantin Khlebnikov, gcc can split assignment of
> > > > > constants to long variables (https://lkml.org/lkml/2013/1/15/141),
> > > > > though assignment of NULL (0) is OK.  Assuming that a gcc bug is
> > > > > fixed (http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/attachment.cgi?id=29169&action=diff
> > > > > has a patch), making the store be volatile keeps gcc from splitting.
> > > > > 
> > > > > This commit therefore applies ACCESS_ONCE() to CMM_STORE_SHARED(),
> > > > > which is the underlying primitive used by rcu_assign_pointer().
> > > > 
> > > > Hi Paul,
> > > > 
> > > > I recognise that this is an issue in the Linux kernel, since a simple
> > > > store is used and expected to be performed atomically when aligned.
> > > > However, I think this does not affect liburcu, see below:
> > > 
> > > Side question: what gcc versions may issue non-atomic volatile stores ?
> > > I think we should at least document those. Bug
> > > http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=55981 seems to target gcc
> > > 4.7.2, but I wonder when this issue first appeared on x86 and x86-64
> > > (and if it affects other architectures as well).
> > 
> > I have no idea which versions are affected.  The bug is in the x86
> > backend, so is specific to x86, but there might well be similar bugs
> > in other architectures.
> 
> Results for my quick tests so far:
> 
> gcc version 4.4.7 (Debian 4.4.7-2)
> gcc version 4.6.3 (Debian 4.6.3-11)
> gcc version 4.7.2 (Debian 4.7.2-5)
> 
> for x86-64 are affected (all gcc installed currently on my Debian
> laptop). I made a simpler test case than the one shown on the bugzilla,
> which triggers the issue with -O0 and -O1 (-O2 and -Os optimisations
> seems not to show this issue with the simpler test case).  So far, it
> seems to only affect stores from immediate value operands (and only some
> patterns).

Good to know!  And more widespread than I would have guessed...

For whatever it is worth, there is an alleged patch here:

	http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-patches/2013-01/msg01119.html

> Debian clang version 3.0-6 (tags/RELEASE_30/final) (based on LLVM 3.0)
> is not affected for x86-64.

Heh!  Good to know as well.  ;-)

							Thanx, Paul

> My test case looks like this:
> 
> * non-atomic-pointer.c:
> 
> volatile void *var;
> 
> void fct(void)
> {
>         asm volatile ("/* test_begin */" : : : "memory");
>         var = (void *) 0x100000002;
>         var = (void *) 0x300000004;
>         asm volatile ("/* test_end */" : : : "memory");
> }
> 
> 
> * build.sh:
> 
> #!/bin/bash
> 
> FLAGS="-S ${*}"
> 
> function do_build
> {
>         $1 ${FLAGS} -o non-atomic-pointer-$1.S.output non-atomic-pointer.c
> }
> 
> do_build gcc-4.4
> do_build gcc-4.6
> do_build gcc-4.7
> do_build gcc-4.7
> do_build g++-4.6
> do_build g++-4.7
> do_build clang
> 
> 
> * check.py (might need adaptation for each architecture and O2, Os):
> 
> #!/usr/bin/env python
> 
> import sys, string, os, re
> 
> # count the number of lines with "mov*" instructions between test_begin
> # and test_end. Should be 2. Report error if not.
> 
> f = open (sys.argv[1], "r")
> 
> lines = f.readlines()
> 
> within_range = 0
> mov_count = 0
> error = 0
> 
> re_mov = re.compile('	mov.*')
> re_begin = re.compile('.*test_begin.*')
> re_end = re.compile('.*test_end.*')
> 
> output = ""
> 
> for line in lines:
> 	if re_begin.match(line):
> 		within_range = 1
> 	elif re_end.match(line):
> 		within_range = 0
> 	elif (within_range and re_mov.match(line)):
> 		output += line
> 		mov_count += 1
> 
> if mov_count > 2:
> 	error = 1
> 
> f.close()
> 
> if error > 0:
> 	print "[Error] expect 2 mov, found " + str(mov_count)
> 	print output
> 	1
> else:
> 	0
> 
> > 
> > > Thanks,
> > > 
> > > Mathieu
> > > 
> > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck at linux.vnet.ibm.com>
> > > > > 
> > > > > diff --git a/urcu/system.h b/urcu/system.h
> > > > > index 2a45f22..7a1887e 100644
> > > > > --- a/urcu/system.h
> > > > > +++ b/urcu/system.h
> > > > > @@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
> > > > >   */
> > > > >  #define CMM_STORE_SHARED(x, v)		\
> > > > >  	({				\
> > > > > -		__typeof__(x) _v = _CMM_STORE_SHARED(x, v);	\
> > > > > +		__typeof__(x) CMM_ACCESS_ONCE(_v) = _CMM_STORE_SHARED(x, v);	\
> > > > 
> > > > Here, the macro "_CMM_STORE_SHARED(x, v)" is doing the actual store.
> > > > It stores v into "x". So adding a CMM_ACCESS_ONCE(_v), as you propose
> > > > here, is really only making sure the return value (usually unused),
> > > > located on the stack, is accessed with a volatile access, which does not
> > > > make much sense.
> > > > 
> > > > What really matters is the _CMM_STORE_SHARED() macro:
> > > > 
> > > > #define _CMM_STORE_SHARED(x, v) ({ CMM_ACCESS_ONCE(x) = (v); })
> > > > 
> > > > which already uses a volatile access for the store. So this seems to be
> > > > a case where our preemptive use of volatile for stores in addition to
> > > > loads made us bug-free for a gcc behavior unexpected at the time we
> > > > implemented this macro. Just a touch of paranoia seems to be a good
> > > > thing sometimes. ;-)
> > > > 
> > > > Thoughts ?
> > 
> > Here is my thought:  You should ignore my "fix".  Please accept my
> > apologies for my confusion!
> 
> No worries! Thanks for bringing this issue to my attention.
> 
> I'm thinking we might want to create a test throwing code with random
> immediate values into my python checker script, for various
> architectures for a couple of weeks, and see what breaks.
> 
> Also, it might be good to test whether some register inputs can generate
> code that write into an unsigned long non-atomically. This would be even
> more worrying.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Mathieu
> 
> > 
> > 							Thanx, Paul
> > 
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > 
> > > > Mathieu
> > > > 
> > > > >  		cmm_smp_wmc();		\
> > > > >  		_v;			\
> > > > >  	})
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > lttng-dev mailing list
> > > > > lttng-dev at lists.lttng.org
> > > > > http://lists.lttng.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lttng-dev
> > > > 
> > > > -- 
> > > > Mathieu Desnoyers
> > > > EfficiOS Inc.
> > > > http://www.efficios.com
> > > > 
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > lttng-dev mailing list
> > > > lttng-dev at lists.lttng.org
> > > > http://lists.lttng.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lttng-dev
> > > 
> > > -- 
> > > Mathieu Desnoyers
> > > EfficiOS Inc.
> > > http://www.efficios.com
> > > 
> > 
> 
> -- 
> Mathieu Desnoyers
> EfficiOS Inc.
> http://www.efficios.com
> 




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