Re: [Xen-devel] [v3,11/41] mips: reuse asm-generic/barrier.h

[Will Deacon <will.deacon@xxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Jan 12, 2016 at 11:40:12AM +0100, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 12, 2016 at 11:25:55AM +0100, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> > On Tue, Jan 12, 2016 at 10:27:11AM +0100, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> > > 2) the changelog _completely_ fails to explain the sync 0x11 and sync
> > > 0x12 semantics nor does it provide a publicly accessible link to
> > > documentation that does.
> > 
> > Ralf pointed me at: https://imgtec.com/mips/architectures/mips64/
> > 
> > > 3) it really should have explained what you did with
> > > smp_llsc_mb/smp_mb__before_llsc() in _detail_.
> > 
> > And reading the MIPS64 v6.04 instruction set manual, I think 0x11/0x12
> > are _NOT_ transitive and therefore cannot be used to implement the
> > smp_mb__{before,after} stuff.
> > 
> > That is, in MIPS speak, those SYNC types are Ordering Barriers, not
> > Completion Barriers. They need not be globally performed.
> 
> Which if true; and I know Will has some questions here; would also mean
> that you 'cannot' use the ACQUIRE/RELEASE barriers for your locks as was
> recently suggested by David Daney.

The issue I have with the SYNC description in the text above is that it
describes the single CPU (program order) and the dual-CPU (confusingly
named global order) cases, but then doesn't generalise any further. That
means we can't sensibly reason about transitivity properties when a third
agent is involved. For example, the WRC+sync+addr test:


P0:
Wx = 1

P1:
Rx == 1
SYNC
Wy = 1

P2:
Ry == 1
<address dep>
Rx = 0


I can't find anything to forbid that, given the text. The main problem
is having the SYNC on P1 affect the write by P0.

> That is, currently all architectures -- with exception of PPC -- have
> RCsc locks, but using these non-transitive things will get you RCpc
> locks.
> 
> So yes, MIPS can go RCpc for its locks and share the burden of pain with
> PPC, but that needs to be a very concious decision.

I think it's much worse than RCpc, given my interpretation of the wording.

Will

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