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authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700
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Merge tag 'trace-v7.3-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-tracegrafted
Pull tracing fixes from Steven Rostedt: - Fix error output of boot instance creation failure Currently if a boot instance creation fails, instead of printing out the name of the instance that failed, it prints "(null)". That is because it prints "cur_str" that had already been processed by strsep(). Print the saved name instead. While at it, print the error code of the failure. - Fix use-after-free for same named historgrams Histograms can be named so that they can be used in multiple events. But if the named histogram has a variable attached, the second event that uses the named histogram which duplicates it and needs to free the original after duplication leaves the old variable in place and still visible. If another histogram uses than variable, it will use the stale one which will try to reference the freed duplicate histogram and crash the kernel. Free the duplicate variables along with the duplicated histogram data. - Check return value of kthread_run() in event self test The events self tests uses a kthread for testing but does not check if it succeeded in creating a kthread. If the kthread creation were to fail, the code will still try to call kthread_stop() on the error returned. - Fix race between reading trace_pipe and updating subbuffer size If a user is reading the trace_pipe file at the same time they update the ring buffer sub-buffer size, can cause the trace_pipe read to read stale data. Add trace_access_lock() around updating the ring buffer sub-buffer size. - Fix eventfs_inode on failure path in creation of the events directory In the creation of the "events" directory, if after allocating the eventfs_inode a failure is detected, it calls cleanup_ei() which calls free_ei(). The free_ei() will test if eventfs_inode being freed has no children. It is a bug if it does. But on the failure case of the creation of the "events" directory, the children lists have not yet been initialized and the free will trigger a warning because list_empty() on an uninitialized list returns false. Move the initialization into init_ei() where it makes more sense and makes sure that a created eventfs_inode has its lists initialized upon creation. - Check return value of kthread_run() in ftrace direct sample code The sample code that shows how to use the ftrace direct calls does not test the return of kthread_run() to see if it succeeds. Return a failure if the kthread_run() doesn't succeed. - Clear user events state on fork in case of alloc failure On fork, the child gets a pointer to the parent's user events state. It makes a copy of it then updates the child's pointer to it. But if the allocation fails, the duplication function leaves the child with a pointer to its parent's descriptor. When the child cleans up its data, it will free the parent's descriptor while the parent is still using it. In the duplication function, set the child's user_event_mm to NULL before testing if the allocation succeeded, and when it exits it will not free the parent's descriptor. - Fix retry exhaustion in simple ring buffer reader swap simple_ring_buffer_swap_reader_page() starts with retry set to 8 and post-decrements it only after a failed link replacement. On the final attempt, a successful replacement leaves retry at zero, while a failed replacement leaves it at -1. But the check for success expects the retry value to be non-zero and exits with an error on zero. This is the opposite result. Fix it. - Fail nicely when the remote swap_reader_page() returns an error Currently, if the swap_reader_page() of a remote buffer fails, it triggers a WARN_ON_ONCE() and continues normally. Instead, have it exit with an error and a pr_warn() print instead of a full WARNING. * tag 'trace-v7.3-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace: ring-buffer: Stop remote reader update when page swap fails tracing: Fix retry exhaustion in simple ring buffer reader swap tracing/user_events: Clear copied tracing state before fork duplication samples/ftrace: Fix kthread_stop() on ERR_PTR in ftrace-direct-multi-modify samples/ftrace: Fix kthread_stop() on ERR_PTR in ftrace-direct-modify eventfs: Initialize ei->children and ei->list in init_ei() tracing: Fix use-after-free in trace_pipe read on sub-buffer order change tracing: Fix crash passing ERR_PTR to kthread_stop() tracing: Fix use-after-free with same-name named triggers tracing: Fix logged instance name on creation failure
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+=============
+ Ring Buffer
+=============
+
+To handle communication between user space and kernel space, AMD GPUs use a
+ring buffer design to feed the engines (GFX, Compute, SDMA, UVD, VCE, VCN, VPE,
+etc.). See the figure below that illustrates how this communication works:
+
+.. kernel-figure:: ring_buffers.svg
+
+Ring buffers in the amdgpu work as a producer-consumer model, where userspace
+acts as the producer, constantly filling the ring buffer with GPU commands to
+be executed. Meanwhile, the GPU retrieves the information from the ring, parses
+it, and distributes the specific set of instructions between the different
+amdgpu blocks.
+
+Notice from the diagram that the ring has a Read Pointer (rptr), which
+indicates where the engine is currently reading packets from the ring, and a
+Write Pointer (wptr), which indicates how many packets software has added to
+the ring. When the rptr and wptr are equal, the ring is idle. When software
+adds packets to the ring, it updates the wptr, this causes the engine to start
+fetching and processing packets. As the engine processes packets, the rptr gets
+updates until the rptr catches up to the wptr and they are equal again.
+
+Usually, ring buffers in the driver have a limited size (search for occurrences
+of `amdgpu_ring_init()`). One of the reasons for the small ring buffer size is
+that CP (Command Processor) is capable of following addresses inserted into the
+ring; this is illustrated in the image by the reference to the IB (Indirect
+Buffer). The IB gives userspace the possibility to have an area in memory that
+CP can read and feed the hardware with extra instructions.
+
+All ASICs pre-GFX11 use what is called a kernel queue, which means
+the ring is allocated in kernel space and has some restrictions, such as not
+being able to be :ref:`preempted directly by the scheduler<amdgpu-mes>`. GFX11
+and newer support kernel queues, but also provide a new mechanism named
+:ref:`user queues<amdgpu-userq>`, where the queue is moved to the user space
+and can be mapped and unmapped via the scheduler. In practice, both queues
+insert user-space-generated GPU commands from different jobs into the requested
+component ring.
+
+Enforce Isolation
+=================
+
+.. note:: After reading this section, you might want to check the
+ :ref:`Process Isolation<amdgpu-process-isolation>` page for more details.
+
+Before examining the Enforce Isolation mechanism in the ring buffer context, it
+is helpful to briefly discuss how instructions from the ring buffer are
+processed in the graphics pipeline. Let’s expand on this topic by checking the
+diagram below that illustrates the graphics pipeline:
+
+.. kernel-figure:: gfx_pipeline_seq.svg
+
+In terms of executing instructions, the GFX pipeline follows the sequence:
+Shader Export (SX), Geometry Engine (GE), Shader Process or Input (SPI), Scan
+Converter (SC), Primitive Assembler (PA), and cache manipulation (which may
+vary across ASICs). Another common way to describe the pipeline is to use Pixel
+Shader (PS), raster, and Vertex Shader (VS) to symbolize the two shader stages.
+Now, with this pipeline in mind, let's assume that Job B causes a hang issue,
+but Job C's instruction might already be executing, leading developers to
+incorrectly identify Job C as the problematic one. This problem can be
+mitigated on multiple levels; the diagram below illustrates how to minimize
+part of this problem:
+
+.. kernel-figure:: no_enforce_isolation.svg
+
+Note from the diagram that there is no guarantee of order or a clear separation
+between instructions, which is not a problem most of the time, and is also good
+for performance. Furthermore, notice some circles between jobs in the diagram
+that represent a **fence wait** used to avoid overlapping work in the ring. At
+the end of the fence, a cache flush occurs, ensuring that when the next job
+starts, it begins in a clean state and, if issues arise, the developer can
+pinpoint the problematic process more precisely.
+
+To increase the level of isolation between jobs, there is the "Enforce
+Isolation" method described in the picture below:
+
+.. kernel-figure:: enforce_isolation.svg
+
+As shown in the diagram, enforcing isolation introduces ordering between
+submissions, since the access to GFX/Compute is serialized, think about it as
+single process at a time mode for gfx/compute. Notice that this approach has a
+significant performance impact, as it allows only one job to submit commands at
+a time. However, this option can help pinpoint the job that caused the problem.
+Although enforcing isolation improves the situation, it does not fully resolve
+the issue of precisely pinpointing bad jobs, since isolation might mask the
+problem. In summary, identifying which job caused the issue may not be precise,
+but enforcing isolation might help with the debugging.
+
+Ring Operations
+===============
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/gpu/drm/amd/amdgpu/amdgpu_ring.c
+ :internal:
+