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SubjectRe: [PATCH] virtio-net: fix a race on 32bit arches
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On Wed, 2012-06-06 at 10:35 +0200, Eric Dumazet wrote:
> From: Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com>
>
> commit 3fa2a1df909 (virtio-net: per cpu 64 bit stats (v2)) added a race
> on 32bit arches.
>
> We must use separate syncp for rx and tx path as they can be run at the
> same time on different cpus. Thus one sequence increment can be lost and
> readers spin forever.
>
> Signed-off-by: Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com>
> Cc: Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@vyatta.com>
> Cc: Michael S. Tsirkin <mst@redhat.com>
> Cc: Jason Wang <jasowang@redhat.com>
> ---

Just to make clear : even using percpu stats/syncp, we have no guarantee
that write_seqcount_begin() is done with one instruction. [1]

It is OK on x86 if "incl" instruction is generated by the compiler, but
on a RISC cpu, the "load memory,%reg ; inc %reg ; store %reg,memory" can
be interrupted.

So if you are 100% sure all paths are safe against preemption/BH, then
this patch is not needed, but a big comment in the code would avoid
adding possible races in the future.

[1] If done with one instruction, we still have a race, since a reader
might see an even sequence and conclude no writer is inside the critical
section. So read values could be wrong.





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