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+Interaction of Suspend code (S3) with the CPU hotplug infrastructure
+
+ (C) 2011 Srivatsa S. Bhat <srivatsa.bhat@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
+
+
+I. How does the regular CPU hotplug code differ from how the Suspend-to-RAM
+ infrastructure uses it internally? And where do they share common code?
+
+Well, a picture is worth a thousand words... So ASCII art follows :-)
+
+[This depicts the current design in the kernel, and focusses only on the
+interactions involving the freezer and CPU hotplug and also tries to explain
+the locking involved. It outlines the notifications involved as well.
+But please note that here, only the call paths are illustrated, with the aim
+of describing where they take different paths and where they share code.
+What happens when regular CPU hotplug and Suspend-to-RAM race with each other
+is not depicted here.]
+
+On a high level, the suspend-resume cycle goes like this:
+
+|Freeze| -> |Disable nonboot| -> |Do suspend| -> |Enable nonboot| -> |Thaw |
+|tasks | | cpus | | | | cpus | |tasks|
+
+
+More details follow:
+
+ Suspend call path
+ -----------------
+
+ Write 'mem' to
+ /sys/power/state
+ syfs file
+ |
+ v
+ Acquire pm_mutex lock
+ |
+ v
+ Send PM_SUSPEND_PREPARE
+ notifications
+ |
+ v
+ Freeze tasks
+ |
+ |
+ v
+ disable_nonboot_cpus()
+ /* start */
+ |
+ v
+ Acquire cpu_add_remove_lock
+ |
+ v
+ Iterate over CURRENTLY
+ online CPUs
+ |
+ |
+ | ----------
+ v | L
+ ======> _cpu_down() |
+ | [This takes cpuhotplug.lock |
+ Common | before taking down the CPU |
+ code | and releases it when done] | O
+ | While it is at it, notifications |
+ | are sent when notable events occur, |
+ ======> by running all registered callbacks. |
+ | | O
+ | |
+ | |
+ v |
+ Note down these cpus in | P
+ frozen_cpus mask ----------
+ |
+ v
+ Disable regular cpu hotplug
+ by setting cpu_hotplug_disabled=1
+ |
+ v
+ Release cpu_add_remove_lock
+ |
+ v
+ /* disable_nonboot_cpus() complete */
+ |
+ v
+ Do suspend
+
+
+
+Resuming back is likewise, with the counterparts being (in the order of
+execution during resume):
+* enable_nonboot_cpus() which involves:
+ | Acquire cpu_add_remove_lock
+ | Reset cpu_hotplug_disabled to 0, thereby enabling regular cpu hotplug
+ | Call _cpu_up() [for all those cpus in the frozen_cpus mask, in a loop]
+ | Release cpu_add_remove_lock
+ v
+
+* thaw tasks
+* send PM_POST_SUSPEND notifications
+* Release pm_mutex lock.
+
+
+It is to be noted here that the pm_mutex lock is acquired at the very
+beginning, when we are just starting out to suspend, and then released only
+after the entire cycle is complete (i.e., suspend + resume).
+
+
+
+ Regular CPU hotplug call path
+ -----------------------------
+
+ Write 0 (or 1) to
+ /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/online
+ sysfs file
+ |
+ |
+ v
+ cpu_down()
+ |
+ v
+ Acquire cpu_add_remove_lock
+ |
+ v
+ If cpu_hotplug_disabled is 1
+ return gracefully
+ |
+ |
+ v
+ ======> _cpu_down()
+ | [This takes cpuhotplug.lock
+ Common | before taking down the CPU
+ code | and releases it when done]
+ | While it is at it, notifications
+ | are sent when notable events occur,
+ ======> by running all registered callbacks.
+ |
+ |
+ v
+ Release cpu_add_remove_lock
+ [That's it!, for
+ regular CPU hotplug]
+
+
+
+So, as can be seen from the two diagrams (the parts marked as "Common code"),
+regular CPU hotplug and the suspend code path converge at the _cpu_down() and
+_cpu_up() functions. They differ in the arguments passed to these functions,
+in that during regular CPU hotplug, 0 is passed for the 'tasks_frozen'
+argument. But during suspend, since the tasks are already frozen by the time
+the non-boot CPUs are offlined or onlined, the _cpu_*() functions are called
+with the 'tasks_frozen' argument set to 1.
+[See below for some known issues regarding this.]
+
+
+Important files and functions/entry points:
+------------------------------------------
+
+kernel/power/process.c : freeze_processes(), thaw_processes()
+kernel/power/suspend.c : suspend_prepare(), suspend_enter(), suspend_finish()
+kernel/cpu.c: cpu_[up|down](), _cpu_[up|down](), [disable|enable]_nonboot_cpus()
+
+
+
+II. What are the issues involved in CPU hotplug?
+ -------------------------------------------
+
+There are some interesting situations involving CPU hotplug and microcode
+update on the CPUs, as discussed below:
+
+[Please bear in mind that the kernel requests the microcode images from
+userspace, using the request_firmware() function defined in
+drivers/base/firmware_class.c]
+
+
+a. When all the CPUs are identical:
+
+ This is the most common situation and it is quite straightforward: we want
+ to apply the same microcode revision to each of the CPUs.
+ To give an example of x86, the collect_cpu_info() function defined in
+ arch/x86/kernel/microcode_core.c helps in discovering the type of the CPU
+ and thereby in applying the correct microcode revision to it.
+ But note that the kernel does not maintain a common microcode image for the
+ all CPUs, in order to handle case 'b' described below.
+
+
+b. When some of the CPUs are different than the rest:
+
+ In this case since we probably need to apply different microcode revisions
+ to different CPUs, the kernel maintains a copy of the correct microcode
+ image for each CPU (after appropriate CPU type/model discovery using
+ functions such as collect_cpu_info()).
+
+
+c. When a CPU is physically hot-unplugged and a new (and possibly different
+ type of) CPU is hot-plugged into the system:
+
+ In the current design of the kernel, whenever a CPU is taken offline during
+ a regular CPU hotplug operation, upon receiving the CPU_DEAD notification
+ (which is sent by the CPU hotplug code), the microcode update driver's
+ callback for that event reacts by freeing the kernel's copy of the
+ microcode image for that CPU.
+
+ Hence, when a new CPU is brought online, since the kernel finds that it
+ doesn't have the microcode image, it does the CPU type/model discovery
+ afresh and then requests the userspace for the appropriate microcode image
+ for that CPU, which is subsequently applied.
+
+ For example, in x86, the mc_cpu_callback() function (which is the microcode
+ update driver's callback registered for CPU hotplug events) calls
+ microcode_update_cpu() which would call microcode_init_cpu() in this case,
+ instead of microcode_resume_cpu() when it finds that the kernel doesn't
+ have a valid microcode image. This ensures that the CPU type/model
+ discovery is performed and the right microcode is applied to the CPU after
+ getting it from userspace.
+
+
+d. Handling microcode update during suspend/hibernate:
+
+ Strictly speaking, during a CPU hotplug operation which does not involve
+ physically removing or inserting CPUs, the CPUs are not actually powered
+ off during a CPU offline. They are just put to the lowest C-states possible.
+ Hence, in such a case, it is not really necessary to re-apply microcode
+ when the CPUs are brought back online, since they wouldn't have lost the
+ image during the CPU offline operation.
+
+ This is the usual scenario encountered during a resume after a suspend.
+ However, in the case of hibernation, since all the CPUs are completely
+ powered off, during restore it becomes necessary to apply the microcode
+ images to all the CPUs.
+
+ [Note that we don't expect someone to physically pull out nodes and insert
+ nodes with a different type of CPUs in-between a suspend-resume or a
+ hibernate/restore cycle.]
+
+ In the current design of the kernel however, during a CPU offline operation
+ as part of the suspend/hibernate cycle (the CPU_DEAD_FROZEN notification),
+ the existing copy of microcode image in the kernel is not freed up.
+ And during the CPU online operations (during resume/restore), since the
+ kernel finds that it already has copies of the microcode images for all the
+ CPUs, it just applies them to the CPUs, avoiding any re-discovery of CPU
+ type/model and the need for validating whether the microcode revisions are
+ right for the CPUs or not (due to the above assumption that physical CPU
+ hotplug will not be done in-between suspend/resume or hibernate/restore
+ cycles).
+
+
+III. Are there any known problems when regular CPU hotplug and suspend race
+ with each other?
+
+Yes, they are listed below:
+
+1. When invoking regular CPU hotplug, the 'tasks_frozen' argument passed to
+ the _cpu_down() and _cpu_up() functions is *always* 0.
+ This might not reflect the true current state of the system, since the
+ tasks could have been frozen by an out-of-band event such as a suspend
+ operation in progress. Hence, it will lead to wrong notifications being
+ sent during the cpu online/offline events (eg, CPU_ONLINE notification
+ instead of CPU_ONLINE_FROZEN) which in turn will lead to execution of
+ inappropriate code by the callbacks registered for such CPU hotplug events.
+
+2. If a regular CPU hotplug stress test happens to race with the freezer due
+ to a suspend operation in progress at the same time, then we could hit the
+ situation described below:
+
+ * A regular cpu online operation continues its journey from userspace
+ into the kernel, since the freezing has not yet begun.
+ * Then freezer gets to work and freezes userspace.
+ * If cpu online has not yet completed the microcode update stuff by now,
+ it will now start waiting on the frozen userspace in the
+ TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE state, in order to get the microcode image.
+ * Now the freezer continues and tries to freeze the remaining tasks. But
+ due to this wait mentioned above, the freezer won't be able to freeze
+ the cpu online hotplug task and hence freezing of tasks fails.
+
+ As a result of this task freezing failure, the suspend operation gets
+ aborted.