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diff --git a/Documentation/powerpc/transactional_memory.txt b/Documentation/powerpc/transactional_memory.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000..52c023e14 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/powerpc/transactional_memory.txt @@ -0,0 +1,244 @@ +Transactional Memory support +============================ + +POWER kernel support for this feature is currently limited to supporting +its use by user programs. It is not currently used by the kernel itself. + +This file aims to sum up how it is supported by Linux and what behaviour you +can expect from your user programs. + + +Basic overview +============== + +Hardware Transactional Memory is supported on POWER8 processors, and is a +feature that enables a different form of atomic memory access. Several new +instructions are presented to delimit transactions; transactions are +guaranteed to either complete atomically or roll back and undo any partial +changes. + +A simple transaction looks like this: + +begin_move_money: + tbegin + beq abort_handler + + ld r4, SAVINGS_ACCT(r3) + ld r5, CURRENT_ACCT(r3) + subi r5, r5, 1 + addi r4, r4, 1 + std r4, SAVINGS_ACCT(r3) + std r5, CURRENT_ACCT(r3) + + tend + + b continue + +abort_handler: + ... test for odd failures ... + + /* Retry the transaction if it failed because it conflicted with + * someone else: */ + b begin_move_money + + +The 'tbegin' instruction denotes the start point, and 'tend' the end point. +Between these points the processor is in 'Transactional' state; any memory +references will complete in one go if there are no conflicts with other +transactional or non-transactional accesses within the system. In this +example, the transaction completes as though it were normal straight-line code +IF no other processor has touched SAVINGS_ACCT(r3) or CURRENT_ACCT(r3); an +atomic move of money from the current account to the savings account has been +performed. Even though the normal ld/std instructions are used (note no +lwarx/stwcx), either *both* SAVINGS_ACCT(r3) and CURRENT_ACCT(r3) will be +updated, or neither will be updated. + +If, in the meantime, there is a conflict with the locations accessed by the +transaction, the transaction will be aborted by the CPU. Register and memory +state will roll back to that at the 'tbegin', and control will continue from +'tbegin+4'. The branch to abort_handler will be taken this second time; the +abort handler can check the cause of the failure, and retry. + +Checkpointed registers include all GPRs, FPRs, VRs/VSRs, LR, CCR/CR, CTR, FPCSR +and a few other status/flag regs; see the ISA for details. + +Causes of transaction aborts +============================ + +- Conflicts with cache lines used by other processors +- Signals +- Context switches +- See the ISA for full documentation of everything that will abort transactions. + + +Syscalls +======== + +Syscalls made from within an active transaction will not be performed and the +transaction will be doomed by the kernel with the failure code TM_CAUSE_SYSCALL +| TM_CAUSE_PERSISTENT. + +Syscalls made from within a suspended transaction are performed as normal and +the transaction is not explicitly doomed by the kernel. However, what the +kernel does to perform the syscall may result in the transaction being doomed +by the hardware. The syscall is performed in suspended mode so any side +effects will be persistent, independent of transaction success or failure. No +guarantees are provided by the kernel about which syscalls will affect +transaction success. + +Care must be taken when relying on syscalls to abort during active transactions +if the calls are made via a library. Libraries may cache values (which may +give the appearance of success) or perform operations that cause transaction +failure before entering the kernel (which may produce different failure codes). +Examples are glibc's getpid() and lazy symbol resolution. + + +Signals +======= + +Delivery of signals (both sync and async) during transactions provides a second +thread state (ucontext/mcontext) to represent the second transactional register +state. Signal delivery 'treclaim's to capture both register states, so signals +abort transactions. The usual ucontext_t passed to the signal handler +represents the checkpointed/original register state; the signal appears to have +arisen at 'tbegin+4'. + +If the sighandler ucontext has uc_link set, a second ucontext has been +delivered. For future compatibility the MSR.TS field should be checked to +determine the transactional state -- if so, the second ucontext in uc->uc_link +represents the active transactional registers at the point of the signal. + +For 64-bit processes, uc->uc_mcontext.regs->msr is a full 64-bit MSR and its TS +field shows the transactional mode. + +For 32-bit processes, the mcontext's MSR register is only 32 bits; the top 32 +bits are stored in the MSR of the second ucontext, i.e. in +uc->uc_link->uc_mcontext.regs->msr. The top word contains the transactional +state TS. + +However, basic signal handlers don't need to be aware of transactions +and simply returning from the handler will deal with things correctly: + +Transaction-aware signal handlers can read the transactional register state +from the second ucontext. This will be necessary for crash handlers to +determine, for example, the address of the instruction causing the SIGSEGV. + +Example signal handler: + + void crash_handler(int sig, siginfo_t *si, void *uc) + { + ucontext_t *ucp = uc; + ucontext_t *transactional_ucp = ucp->uc_link; + + if (ucp_link) { + u64 msr = ucp->uc_mcontext.regs->msr; + /* May have transactional ucontext! */ +#ifndef __powerpc64__ + msr |= ((u64)transactional_ucp->uc_mcontext.regs->msr) << 32; +#endif + if (MSR_TM_ACTIVE(msr)) { + /* Yes, we crashed during a transaction. Oops. */ + fprintf(stderr, "Transaction to be restarted at 0x%llx, but " + "crashy instruction was at 0x%llx\n", + ucp->uc_mcontext.regs->nip, + transactional_ucp->uc_mcontext.regs->nip); + } + } + + fix_the_problem(ucp->dar); + } + +When in an active transaction that takes a signal, we need to be careful with +the stack. It's possible that the stack has moved back up after the tbegin. +The obvious case here is when the tbegin is called inside a function that +returns before a tend. In this case, the stack is part of the checkpointed +transactional memory state. If we write over this non transactionally or in +suspend, we are in trouble because if we get a tm abort, the program counter and +stack pointer will be back at the tbegin but our in memory stack won't be valid +anymore. + +To avoid this, when taking a signal in an active transaction, we need to use +the stack pointer from the checkpointed state, rather than the speculated +state. This ensures that the signal context (written tm suspended) will be +written below the stack required for the rollback. The transaction is aborted +because of the treclaim, so any memory written between the tbegin and the +signal will be rolled back anyway. + +For signals taken in non-TM or suspended mode, we use the +normal/non-checkpointed stack pointer. + +Any transaction initiated inside a sighandler and suspended on return +from the sighandler to the kernel will get reclaimed and discarded. + +Failure cause codes used by kernel +================================== + +These are defined in <asm/reg.h>, and distinguish different reasons why the +kernel aborted a transaction: + + TM_CAUSE_RESCHED Thread was rescheduled. + TM_CAUSE_TLBI Software TLB invalid. + TM_CAUSE_FAC_UNAV FP/VEC/VSX unavailable trap. + TM_CAUSE_SYSCALL Syscall from active transaction. + TM_CAUSE_SIGNAL Signal delivered. + TM_CAUSE_MISC Currently unused. + TM_CAUSE_ALIGNMENT Alignment fault. + TM_CAUSE_EMULATE Emulation that touched memory. + +These can be checked by the user program's abort handler as TEXASR[0:7]. If +bit 7 is set, it indicates that the error is consider persistent. For example +a TM_CAUSE_ALIGNMENT will be persistent while a TM_CAUSE_RESCHED will not. + +GDB +=== + +GDB and ptrace are not currently TM-aware. If one stops during a transaction, +it looks like the transaction has just started (the checkpointed state is +presented). The transaction cannot then be continued and will take the failure +handler route. Furthermore, the transactional 2nd register state will be +inaccessible. GDB can currently be used on programs using TM, but not sensibly +in parts within transactions. + +POWER9 +====== + +TM on POWER9 has issues with storing the complete register state. This +is described in this commit: + + commit 4bb3c7a0208fc13ca70598efd109901a7cd45ae7 + Author: Paul Mackerras <paulus@ozlabs.org> + Date: Wed Mar 21 21:32:01 2018 +1100 + KVM: PPC: Book3S HV: Work around transactional memory bugs in POWER9 + +To account for this different POWER9 chips have TM enabled in +different ways. + +On POWER9N DD2.01 and below, TM is disabled. ie +HWCAP2[PPC_FEATURE2_HTM] is not set. + +On POWER9N DD2.1 TM is configured by firmware to always abort a +transaction when tm suspend occurs. So tsuspend will cause a +transaction to be aborted and rolled back. Kernel exceptions will also +cause the transaction to be aborted and rolled back and the exception +will not occur. If userspace constructs a sigcontext that enables TM +suspend, the sigcontext will be rejected by the kernel. This mode is +advertised to users with HWCAP2[PPC_FEATURE2_HTM_NO_SUSPEND] set. +HWCAP2[PPC_FEATURE2_HTM] is not set in this mode. + +On POWER9N DD2.2 and above, KVM and POWERVM emulate TM for guests (as +described in commit 4bb3c7a0208f), hence TM is enabled for guests +ie. HWCAP2[PPC_FEATURE2_HTM] is set for guest userspace. Guests that +makes heavy use of TM suspend (tsuspend or kernel suspend) will result +in traps into the hypervisor and hence will suffer a performance +degradation. Host userspace has TM disabled +ie. HWCAP2[PPC_FEATURE2_HTM] is not set. (although we make enable it +at some point in the future if we bring the emulation into host +userspace context switching). + +POWER9C DD1.2 and above are only available with POWERVM and hence +Linux only runs as a guest. On these systems TM is emulated like on +POWER9N DD2.2. + +Guest migration from POWER8 to POWER9 will work with POWER9N DD2.2 and +POWER9C DD1.2. Since earlier POWER9 processors don't support TM +emulation, migration from POWER8 to POWER9 is not supported there. |