[dpdk-dev] [PATCH v2] ring: check for zero objects mc dequeue / mp enqueue

[Lazaros Koromilas]

Hi Olivier,

We could have two threads (running on different cores in the general
case) that both succeed the cmpset operation. In the dequeue path,
when n == 0, then cons_next == cons_head, and cmpset will always
succeed. Now, if they both see an old r->cons.tail value from a
previous dequeue, they can get stuck in the while
(unlikely(r->cons.tail != cons_head)) loop. I tried, however, to
reproduce (without the patch) and it seems that there is still a
window for deadlock.

I'm pasting some debug output below that shows two processes' state.
It's two receivers doing interleaved mc_dequeue(32)/mc_dequeue(0), and
one sender doing mp_enqueue(32) on the same ring.

gdb --args ./ring-test -l0 --proc-type=primary
gdb --args ./ring-test -l1 --proc-type=secondary
gdb --args ./ring-test -l2 --proc-type=secondary -- tx

This is what I would usually see, process 0 and 1 both stuck at the same state:

663             while (unlikely(r->cons.tail != cons_head)) {
(gdb) p n
$1 = 0
(gdb) p r->cons.tail
$2 = 576416
(gdb) p cons_head
$3 = 576448
(gdb) p cons_next
$4 = 576448

But now I managed to get the two processes stuck at this state too.

process 0:
663             while (unlikely(r->cons.tail != cons_head)) {
(gdb) p n
$1 = 32
(gdb) p r->cons.tail
$2 = 254348832
(gdb) p cons_head
$3 = 254348864
(gdb) p cons_next
$4 = 254348896

proccess 1:
663             while (unlikely(r->cons.tail != cons_head)) {
(gdb) p n
$1 = 32
(gdb) p r->cons.tail
$2 = 254348832
(gdb) p cons_head
$3 = 254348896
(gdb) p cons_next
$4 = 254348928

I haven't been able to trigger this with the patch so far, but it
should be possible.

Lazaros.

On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 1:15 PM, Olivier Matz <olivier.matz at 6wind.com> wrote:
> Hi Lazaros,
>
> On 03/17/2016 04:49 PM, Lazaros Koromilas wrote:
>> Issuing a zero objects dequeue with a single consumer has no effect.
>> Doing so with multiple consumers, can get more than one thread to succeed
>> the compare-and-set operation and observe starvation or even deadlock in
>> the while loop that checks for preceding dequeues.  The problematic piece
>> of code when n = 0:
>>
>>     cons_next = cons_head + n;
>>     success = rte_atomic32_cmpset(&r->cons.head, cons_head, cons_next);
>>
>> The same is possible on the enqueue path.
>
> Just a question about this patch (that has been applied). Thomas
> retitled the commit from your log message:
>
>   ring: fix deadlock in zero object multi enqueue or dequeue
>   http://dpdk.org/browse/dpdk/commit/?id=d0979646166e
>
> I think this patch does not fix a deadlock, or did I miss something?
>
> As explained in the following links, the ring may not perform well
> if several threads running on the same cpu use it:
>
>   http://dpdk.org/ml/archives/dev/2013-November/000714.html
>   http://www.dpdk.org/ml/archives/dev/2014-January/001070.html
>   http://www.dpdk.org/ml/archives/dev/2014-January/001162.html
>   http://dpdk.org/ml/archives/dev/2015-July/020659.html
>
> A deadlock could occur if the threads running on the same core
> have different priority.
>
> Regards,
> Olivier