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diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/torture.txt b/Documentation/RCU/torture.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5d901679 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/RCU/torture.txt @@ -0,0 +1,201 @@ +RCU Torture Test Operation + + +CONFIG_RCU_TORTURE_TEST + +The CONFIG_RCU_TORTURE_TEST config option is available for all RCU +implementations. It creates an rcutorture kernel module that can +be loaded to run a torture test. The test periodically outputs +status messages via printk(), which can be examined via the dmesg +command (perhaps grepping for "torture"). The test is started +when the module is loaded, and stops when the module is unloaded. + +CONFIG_RCU_TORTURE_TEST_RUNNABLE + +It is also possible to specify CONFIG_RCU_TORTURE_TEST=y, which will +result in the tests being loaded into the base kernel. In this case, +the CONFIG_RCU_TORTURE_TEST_RUNNABLE config option is used to specify +whether the RCU torture tests are to be started immediately during +boot or whether the /proc/sys/kernel/rcutorture_runnable file is used +to enable them. This /proc file can be used to repeatedly pause and +restart the tests, regardless of the initial state specified by the +CONFIG_RCU_TORTURE_TEST_RUNNABLE config option. + +You will normally -not- want to start the RCU torture tests during boot +(and thus the default is CONFIG_RCU_TORTURE_TEST_RUNNABLE=n), but doing +this can sometimes be useful in finding boot-time bugs. + + +MODULE PARAMETERS + +This module has the following parameters: + +fqs_duration Duration (in microseconds) of artificially induced bursts + of force_quiescent_state() invocations. In RCU + implementations having force_quiescent_state(), these + bursts help force races between forcing a given grace + period and that grace period ending on its own. + +fqs_holdoff Holdoff time (in microseconds) between consecutive calls + to force_quiescent_state() within a burst. + +fqs_stutter Wait time (in seconds) between consecutive bursts + of calls to force_quiescent_state(). + +irqreaders Says to invoke RCU readers from irq level. This is currently + done via timers. Defaults to "1" for variants of RCU that + permit this. (Or, more accurately, variants of RCU that do + -not- permit this know to ignore this variable.) + +nfakewriters This is the number of RCU fake writer threads to run. Fake + writer threads repeatedly use the synchronous "wait for + current readers" function of the interface selected by + torture_type, with a delay between calls to allow for various + different numbers of writers running in parallel. + nfakewriters defaults to 4, which provides enough parallelism + to trigger special cases caused by multiple writers, such as + the synchronize_srcu() early return optimization. + +nreaders This is the number of RCU reading threads supported. + The default is twice the number of CPUs. Why twice? + To properly exercise RCU implementations with preemptible + read-side critical sections. + +shuffle_interval + The number of seconds to keep the test threads affinitied + to a particular subset of the CPUs, defaults to 3 seconds. + Used in conjunction with test_no_idle_hz. + +stat_interval The number of seconds between output of torture + statistics (via printk()). Regardless of the interval, + statistics are printed when the module is unloaded. + Setting the interval to zero causes the statistics to + be printed -only- when the module is unloaded, and this + is the default. + +stutter The length of time to run the test before pausing for this + same period of time. Defaults to "stutter=5", so as + to run and pause for (roughly) five-second intervals. + Specifying "stutter=0" causes the test to run continuously + without pausing, which is the old default behavior. + +test_no_idle_hz Whether or not to test the ability of RCU to operate in + a kernel that disables the scheduling-clock interrupt to + idle CPUs. Boolean parameter, "1" to test, "0" otherwise. + Defaults to omitting this test. + +torture_type The type of RCU to test: "rcu" for the rcu_read_lock() API, + "rcu_sync" for rcu_read_lock() with synchronous reclamation, + "rcu_bh" for the rcu_read_lock_bh() API, "rcu_bh_sync" for + rcu_read_lock_bh() with synchronous reclamation, "srcu" for + the "srcu_read_lock()" API, "sched" for the use of + preempt_disable() together with synchronize_sched(), + and "sched_expedited" for the use of preempt_disable() + with synchronize_sched_expedited(). + +verbose Enable debug printk()s. Default is disabled. + + +OUTPUT + +The statistics output is as follows: + + rcu-torture: --- Start of test: nreaders=16 stat_interval=0 verbose=0 + rcu-torture: rtc: 0000000000000000 ver: 1916 tfle: 0 rta: 1916 rtaf: 0 rtf: 1915 + rcu-torture: Reader Pipe: 1466408 9747 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 + rcu-torture: Reader Batch: 1464477 11678 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 + rcu-torture: Free-Block Circulation: 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 0 + rcu-torture: --- End of test + +The command "dmesg | grep torture:" will extract this information on +most systems. On more esoteric configurations, it may be necessary to +use other commands to access the output of the printk()s used by +the RCU torture test. The printk()s use KERN_ALERT, so they should +be evident. ;-) + +The entries are as follows: + +o "rtc": The hexadecimal address of the structure currently visible + to readers. + +o "ver": The number of times since boot that the rcutw writer task + has changed the structure visible to readers. + +o "tfle": If non-zero, indicates that the "torture freelist" + containing structure to be placed into the "rtc" area is empty. + This condition is important, since it can fool you into thinking + that RCU is working when it is not. :-/ + +o "rta": Number of structures allocated from the torture freelist. + +o "rtaf": Number of allocations from the torture freelist that have + failed due to the list being empty. + +o "rtf": Number of frees into the torture freelist. + +o "Reader Pipe": Histogram of "ages" of structures seen by readers. + If any entries past the first two are non-zero, RCU is broken. + And rcutorture prints the error flag string "!!!" to make sure + you notice. The age of a newly allocated structure is zero, + it becomes one when removed from reader visibility, and is + incremented once per grace period subsequently -- and is freed + after passing through (RCU_TORTURE_PIPE_LEN-2) grace periods. + + The output displayed above was taken from a correctly working + RCU. If you want to see what it looks like when broken, break + it yourself. ;-) + +o "Reader Batch": Another histogram of "ages" of structures seen + by readers, but in terms of counter flips (or batches) rather + than in terms of grace periods. The legal number of non-zero + entries is again two. The reason for this separate view is that + it is sometimes easier to get the third entry to show up in the + "Reader Batch" list than in the "Reader Pipe" list. + +o "Free-Block Circulation": Shows the number of torture structures + that have reached a given point in the pipeline. The first element + should closely correspond to the number of structures allocated, + the second to the number that have been removed from reader view, + and all but the last remaining to the corresponding number of + passes through a grace period. The last entry should be zero, + as it is only incremented if a torture structure's counter + somehow gets incremented farther than it should. + +Different implementations of RCU can provide implementation-specific +additional information. For example, SRCU provides the following: + + srcu-torture: rtc: f8cf46a8 ver: 355 tfle: 0 rta: 356 rtaf: 0 rtf: 346 rtmbe: 0 + srcu-torture: Reader Pipe: 559738 939 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 + srcu-torture: Reader Batch: 560434 243 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 + srcu-torture: Free-Block Circulation: 355 354 353 352 351 350 349 348 347 346 0 + srcu-torture: per-CPU(idx=1): 0(0,1) 1(0,1) 2(0,0) 3(0,1) + +The first four lines are similar to those for RCU. The last line shows +the per-CPU counter state. The numbers in parentheses are the values +of the "old" and "current" counters for the corresponding CPU. The +"idx" value maps the "old" and "current" values to the underlying array, +and is useful for debugging. + +Similarly, sched_expedited RCU provides the following: + + sched_expedited-torture: rtc: d0000000016c1880 ver: 1090796 tfle: 0 rta: 1090796 rtaf: 0 rtf: 1090787 rtmbe: 0 nt: 27713319 + sched_expedited-torture: Reader Pipe: 12660320201 95875 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 + sched_expedited-torture: Reader Batch: 12660424885 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 + sched_expedited-torture: Free-Block Circulation: 1090795 1090795 1090794 1090793 1090792 1090791 1090790 1090789 1090788 1090787 0 + + +USAGE + +The following script may be used to torture RCU: + + #!/bin/sh + + modprobe rcutorture + sleep 100 + rmmod rcutorture + dmesg | grep torture: + +The output can be manually inspected for the error flag of "!!!". +One could of course create a more elaborate script that automatically +checked for such errors. The "rmmod" command forces a "SUCCESS" or +"FAILURE" indication to be printk()ed. |