Re: [RFC 0/3] qmp: make qmp_device_add() a coroutine

[Paolo Bonzini]

On 9/6/23 21:01, Stefan Hajnoczi wrote:
> It is not safe to call drain_call_rcu() from qmp_device_add() because
> some call stacks are not prepared for drain_call_rcu() to drop the Big
> QEMU Lock (BQL).
>
> For example, device emulation code is protected by the BQL but when it
> calls aio_poll() -> ... -> qmp_device_add() -> drain_call_rcu() then the
> BQL is dropped. See https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2215192 for a
> concrete bug of this type.
>
> Another limitation of drain_call_rcu() is that it cannot be invoked within an
> RCU read-side critical section since the reclamation phase cannot complete
> until the end of the critical section. Unfortunately, call stacks have been
> seen where this happens (see
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2214985).

I think the root cause here is that do_qmp_dispatch_bh is called on the 
wrong context, namely qemu_get_aio_context() instead of 
iohandler_get_aio_context().  This is what causes it to move to the vCPU 
thread.

Auditing all subsystems that use iohandler_get_aio_context(), for 
example via qemu_set_fd_handler(), together with bottom halves, would be 
a bit daunting.

I don't have any objection to this patch series actually, but I would 
like to see if using the right AioContext also fixes the bug---and then 
treat these changes as more of a cleanup.  Coroutines are pretty 
pervasive in QEMU and are not going away which, as you say in the 
updated docs, makes drain_call_rcu_co() preferrable to drain_call_rcu().

Paolo


> This patch series introduces drain_call_rcu_co(), which does the same thing as
> drain_call_rcu() but asynchronously. By yielding back to the event loop we can
> wait until the caller drops the BQL and leaves its RCU read-side critical
> section.
>
> Patch 1 changes HMP so that coroutine monitor commands yield back to the event
> loop instead of running inside a nested event loop.
>
> Patch 2 introduces the new drain_call_rcu_co() API.
>
> Patch 3 converts qmp_device_add() into a coroutine monitor command and uses
> drain_call_rcu_co().
>
> I'm sending this as an RFC because I don't have confirmation yet that the bugs
> mentioned above are fixed by this patch series.
>
> Stefan Hajnoczi (3):
>    hmp: avoid the nested event loop in handle_hmp_command()
>    rcu: add drain_call_rcu_co() API
>    qmp: make qmp_device_add() a coroutine
>
>   MAINTAINERS            |  2 ++
>   docs/devel/rcu.txt     | 21 ++++++++++++++++
>   qapi/qdev.json         |  1 +
>   include/monitor/qdev.h |  3 ++-
>   include/qemu/rcu.h     |  1 +
>   util/rcu-internal.h    |  8 ++++++
>   monitor/hmp.c          | 28 +++++++++++----------
>   monitor/qmp-cmds.c     |  2 +-
>   softmmu/qdev-monitor.c | 34 +++++++++++++++++++++++---
>   util/rcu-co.c          | 55 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>   util/rcu.c             |  3 ++-
>   hmp-commands.hx        |  1 +
>   util/meson.build       |  2 +-
>   13 files changed, 140 insertions(+), 21 deletions(-)
>   create mode 100644 util/rcu-internal.h
>   create mode 100644 util/rcu-co.c