AioContext: optimize clearing the EventNotifier
It is pretty rare for aio_notify to actually set the EventNotifier. It
can happen with worker threads such as thread-pool.c's, but otherwise it
should never be set thanks to the ctx->notify_me optimization. The
previous patch, unfortunately, added an unconditional call to
event_notifier_test_and_clear; now add a userspace fast path that
avoids the call.
Note that it is not possible to do the same with event_notifier_set;
it would break, as proved (again) by the included formal model.
This patch survived over 3000 reboots on aarch64 KVM.
Signed-off-by: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>
Reviewed-by: Fam Zheng <famz@redhat.com>
Tested-by: Richard W.M. Jones <rjones@redhat.com>
Message-id: 1437487673-23740-7-git-send-email-pbonzini@redhat.com
Signed-off-by: Stefan Hajnoczi <stefanha@redhat.com>
diff --git a/include/block/aio.h b/include/block/aio.h
index be91e3f..9dd32e0 100644
--- a/include/block/aio.h
+++ b/include/block/aio.h
@@ -99,7 +99,19 @@
*/
int walking_bh;
- /* Used for aio_notify. */
+ /* Used by aio_notify.
+ *
+ * "notified" is used to avoid expensive event_notifier_test_and_clear
+ * calls. When it is clear, the EventNotifier is clear, or one thread
+ * is going to clear "notified" before processing more events. False
+ * positives are possible, i.e. "notified" could be set even though the
+ * EventNotifier is clear.
+ *
+ * Note that event_notifier_set *cannot* be optimized the same way. For
+ * more information on the problem that would result, see "#ifdef BUG2"
+ * in the docs/aio_notify_accept.promela formal model.
+ */
+ bool notified;
EventNotifier notifier;
/* Thread pool for performing work and receiving completion callbacks */
@@ -174,6 +186,24 @@
void aio_notify(AioContext *ctx);
/**
+ * aio_notify_accept: Acknowledge receiving an aio_notify.
+ *
+ * aio_notify() uses an EventNotifier in order to wake up a sleeping
+ * aio_poll() or g_main_context_iteration(). Calls to aio_notify() are
+ * usually rare, but the AioContext has to clear the EventNotifier on
+ * every aio_poll() or g_main_context_iteration() in order to avoid
+ * busy waiting. This event_notifier_test_and_clear() cannot be done
+ * using the usual aio_context_set_event_notifier(), because it must
+ * be done before processing all events (file descriptors, bottom halves,
+ * timers).
+ *
+ * aio_notify_accept() is an optimized event_notifier_test_and_clear()
+ * that is specific to an AioContext's notifier; it is used internally
+ * to clear the EventNotifier only if aio_notify() had been called.
+ */
+void aio_notify_accept(AioContext *ctx);
+
+/**
* aio_bh_poll: Poll bottom halves for an AioContext.
*
* These are internal functions used by the QEMU main loop.
