summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/locking/rt-mutex.rst
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2026-08-23 13:28:57 -0700
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2026-08-23 13:28:57 -0700
commit4352b8aee98005853aa63f57d6377282de17a33f (patch)
tree27614d7a9ef05c32d089004e104364ce42324837 /Documentation/locking/rt-mutex.rst
downloadlinux-stable-4352b8aee98005853aa63f57d6377282de17a33f.tar.gz
linux-stable-4352b8aee98005853aa63f57d6377282de17a33f.zip
Merge tag 'i3c/for-7.3' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/i3c/linuxgrafted
Pull I3C updates from Alexandre Belloni: "A new driver this cycle, for the AMD AXI I3C controller. There are also new features such as IBI wakeup support, SETAASA device discovery and ACPI support for the the DAA methods, meaning we can now communicate with the SPD devices on DDR5 modules. New driver: - AMD AXI I3C master controller Subsystem: - I3C Common Command Code (CCC) handling improvements, especially around GET CCCs - SETAASA device discovery support - ACPI support for all existing DAA methods like SETDASA, SETNEWDA as well as I2C devices on I3C bus - IBI-based wakeup support Drivers: - dw: SETAASA support - mipi-i3c-hci: advertise IBI wakeup capability, AMD_PT I3C controller support, PIO queue management support for HCI v1.2 - renesas: improve suspend to RAM support, add runtime PM support" * tag 'i3c/for-7.3' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/i3c/linux: (70 commits) i3c: dw: reduce do_daa time if there's no client i3c: mipi-i3c-hci: Add support for AMD_PT I3C controller i3c: mipi-i3c-hci: Add PIO queue management support for HCI v1.2 i3c: mipi-i3c-hci: Fix missing STAT_IBI_STATUS_THLD in PIO mode i3c: dw: rename "pclk" to "apb" to match dt-binding i3c: dw: make struct dw_i3c_cmd smaller i3c: dw: use COMMAND_PORT_TRANSFER_ARG instead of hardcoding i3c: renesas: Don't register devices when ENTDAA times out i3c: master: dw-i3c-master: fix OD timing for first broadcast i3c: mipi-i3c-hci: Advertise IBI wakeup capability i3c: mipi-i3c-hci: Factor out i3c_hci_sysdev() i3c: mipi-i3c-hci-pci: Propagate I3C wakeup requirements to PCI i3c: master: Reject IBI requests from non-IBI-capable devices i3c: master: Add helper to query bus wakeup requirements i3c: master: Report wakeup events for IBIs i3c: master: Support IBI-based wakeup capability i3c: master: Fix potential UAF in i3c_device_match() i3c: master: Fix potential UAF in i3c_device_uevent() i3c: Make dev->desc locking assumptions explicit i3c: master: Fix use-after-free of master->this ...
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/locking/rt-mutex.rst')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/locking/rt-mutex.rst77
1 files changed, 77 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/locking/rt-mutex.rst b/Documentation/locking/rt-mutex.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3b5097a38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/locking/rt-mutex.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+==================================
+RT-mutex subsystem with PI support
+==================================
+
+RT-mutexes with priority inheritance are used to support PI-futexes,
+which enable pthread_mutex_t priority inheritance attributes
+(PTHREAD_PRIO_INHERIT). [See Documentation/locking/pi-futex.rst for more details
+about PI-futexes.]
+
+This technology was developed in the -rt tree and streamlined for
+pthread_mutex support.
+
+Basic principles:
+-----------------
+
+RT-mutexes extend the semantics of simple mutexes by the priority
+inheritance protocol.
+
+A low priority owner of a rt-mutex inherits the priority of a higher
+priority waiter until the rt-mutex is released. If the temporarily
+boosted owner blocks on a rt-mutex itself it propagates the priority
+boosting to the owner of the other rt_mutex it gets blocked on. The
+priority boosting is immediately removed once the rt_mutex has been
+unlocked.
+
+This approach allows us to shorten the block of high-prio tasks on
+mutexes which protect shared resources. Priority inheritance is not a
+magic bullet for poorly designed applications, but it allows
+well-designed applications to use userspace locks in critical parts of
+an high priority thread, without losing determinism.
+
+The enqueueing of the waiters into the rtmutex waiter tree is done in
+priority order. For same priorities FIFO order is chosen. For each
+rtmutex, only the top priority waiter is enqueued into the owner's
+priority waiters tree. This tree too queues in priority order. Whenever
+the top priority waiter of a task changes (for example it timed out or
+got a signal), the priority of the owner task is readjusted. The
+priority enqueueing is handled by "pi_waiters".
+
+RT-mutexes are optimized for fastpath operations and have no internal
+locking overhead when locking an uncontended mutex or unlocking a mutex
+without waiters. The optimized fastpath operations require cmpxchg
+support. [If that is not available then the rt-mutex internal spinlock
+is used]
+
+The state of the rt-mutex is tracked via the owner field of the rt-mutex
+structure:
+
+lock->owner holds the task_struct pointer of the owner. Bit 0 is used to
+keep track of the "lock has waiters" state:
+
+ ============ ======= ================================================
+ owner bit0 Notes
+ ============ ======= ================================================
+ NULL 0 lock is free (fast acquire possible)
+ NULL 1 lock is free and has waiters and the top waiter
+ is going to take the lock [1]_
+ taskpointer 0 lock is held (fast release possible)
+ taskpointer 1 lock is held and has waiters [2]_
+ ============ ======= ================================================
+
+The fast atomic compare exchange based acquire and release is only
+possible when bit 0 of lock->owner is 0.
+
+.. [1] It also can be a transitional state when grabbing the lock
+ with ->wait_lock is held. To prevent any fast path cmpxchg to the lock,
+ we need to set the bit0 before looking at the lock, and the owner may
+ be NULL in this small time, hence this can be a transitional state.
+
+.. [2] There is a small time when bit 0 is set but there are no
+ waiters. This can happen when grabbing the lock in the slow path.
+ To prevent a cmpxchg of the owner releasing the lock, we need to
+ set this bit before looking at the lock.
+
+BTW, there is still technically a "Pending Owner", it's just not called
+that anymore. The pending owner happens to be the top_waiter of a lock
+that has no owner and has been woken up to grab the lock.