[dpdk-dev] [PATCH v2 2/4] eventdev: use c11 atomics for lcore timer armed flag

[Phil Yang]

The in_use flag is a per core variable which is not shared between
lcores in the normal case and the access of this variable should be
ordered on the same core. However, if non-EAL thread pick the highest
lcore to insert timers into, there is the possibility of conflicts
on this flag between threads. Then the atomic CAS operation is needed.

Use the c11 atomic CAS instead of the generic rte_atomic operations
to avoid the unnecessary barrier on aarch64.

Signed-off-by: Phil Yang <phil.yang at arm.com>
Reviewed-by: Dharmik Thakkar <dharmik.thakkar at arm.com>
Reviewed-by: Ruifeng Wang <ruifeng.wang at arm.com>
---
v2:
1. Make the code comments more accurate. (Erik)
2. Define the in_use flag as an unsigned type. (Stephen)

 lib/librte_eventdev/rte_event_timer_adapter.c | 15 +++++++++++----
 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lib/librte_eventdev/rte_event_timer_adapter.c b/lib/librte_eventdev/rte_event_timer_adapter.c
index a36d3d2..7cc334c 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eventdev/rte_event_timer_adapter.c
+++ b/lib/librte_eventdev/rte_event_timer_adapter.c
@@ -554,7 +554,7 @@ struct swtim {
 	uint32_t timer_data_id;
 	/* Track which cores have actually armed a timer */
 	struct {
-		rte_atomic16_t v;
+		uint16_t v;
 	} __rte_cache_aligned in_use[RTE_MAX_LCORE];
 	/* Track which cores' timer lists should be polled */
 	unsigned int poll_lcores[RTE_MAX_LCORE];
@@ -606,7 +606,8 @@ swtim_callback(struct rte_timer *tim)
 				      "with immediate expiry value");
 		}
 
-		if (unlikely(rte_atomic16_test_and_set(&sw->in_use[lcore].v))) {
+		if (unlikely(sw->in_use[lcore].v == 0)) {
+			sw->in_use[lcore].v = 1;
 			n_lcores = __atomic_fetch_add(&sw->n_poll_lcores, 1,
 						     __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
 			__atomic_store_n(&sw->poll_lcores[n_lcores], lcore,
@@ -834,7 +835,7 @@ swtim_init(struct rte_event_timer_adapter *adapter)
 
 	/* Initialize the variables that track in-use timer lists */
 	for (i = 0; i < RTE_MAX_LCORE; i++)
-		rte_atomic16_init(&sw->in_use[i].v);
+		sw->in_use[i].v = 0;
 
 	/* Initialize the timer subsystem and allocate timer data instance */
 	ret = rte_timer_subsystem_init();
@@ -1017,6 +1018,8 @@ __swtim_arm_burst(const struct rte_event_timer_adapter *adapter,
 	struct rte_timer *tim, *tims[nb_evtims];
 	uint64_t cycles;
 	int n_lcores;
+	/* Timer list for this lcore is not in use. */
+	uint16_t exp_state = 0;
 
 #ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_EVENTDEV_DEBUG
 	/* Check that the service is running. */
@@ -1035,8 +1038,12 @@ __swtim_arm_burst(const struct rte_event_timer_adapter *adapter,
 	/* If this is the first time we're arming an event timer on this lcore,
 	 * mark this lcore as "in use"; this will cause the service
 	 * function to process the timer list that corresponds to this lcore.
+	 * The atomic CAS operation can prevent the race condition on in_use
+	 * flag between multiple non-EAL threads.
 	 */
-	if (unlikely(rte_atomic16_test_and_set(&sw->in_use[lcore_id].v))) {
+	if (unlikely(__atomic_compare_exchange_n(&sw->in_use[lcore_id].v,
+			&exp_state, 1, 0,
+			__ATOMIC_RELAXED, __ATOMIC_RELAXED))) {
 		EVTIM_LOG_DBG("Adding lcore id = %u to list of lcores to poll",
 			      lcore_id);
 		n_lcores = __atomic_fetch_add(&sw->n_poll_lcores, 1,
-- 
2.7.4