Merge branch 'master' of...

	- how to get printk format specifiers right

prio_tree.txt

	- info on radix-priority-search-tree use for indexing vmas.

ramoops.txt

	- documentation of the ramoops oops/panic logging module.

rbtree.txt

	- info on what red-black trees are and what they are for.

robust-futex-ABI.txt

bridges).  In order to ensure that all the data has arrived in memory,

the interrupt handler must read a register on the device which raised

the interrupt.  PCI transaction ordering rules require that all the data

arrives in memory before the value can be returned from the register.

arrive in memory before the value may be returned from the register.

Using MSIs avoids this problem as the interrupt-generating write cannot

pass the data writes, so by the time the interrupt is raised, the driver

knows that all the data has arrived in memory.

int pci_enable_msi(struct pci_dev *dev)

A successful call will allocate ONE interrupt to the device, regardless

of how many MSIs the device supports.  The device will be switched from

A successful call allocates ONE interrupt to the device, regardless

of how many MSIs the device supports.  The device is switched from

pin-based interrupt mode to MSI mode.  The dev->irq number is changed

to a new number which represents the message signaled interrupt.

This function should be called before the driver calls request_irq()

since enabling MSIs disables the pin-based IRQ and the driver will not

receive interrupts on the old interrupt.

to a new number which represents the message signaled interrupt;

consequently, this function should be called before the driver calls

request_irq(), because an MSI is delivered via a vector that is

different from the vector of a pin-based interrupt.

4.2.2 pci_enable_msi_block

If this function returns a negative number, it indicates an error and

the driver should not attempt to request any more MSI interrupts for

this device.  If this function returns a positive number, it will be

less than 'count' and indicate the number of interrupts that could have

been allocated.  In neither case will the irq value have been

updated, nor will the device have been switched into MSI mode.

this device.  If this function returns a positive number, it is

less than 'count' and indicates the number of interrupts that could have

been allocated.  In neither case is the irq value updated or the device

switched into MSI mode.

The device driver must decide what action to take if

pci_enable_msi_block() returns a value less than the number asked for.

Some devices can make use of fewer interrupts than the maximum they

request; in this case the driver should call pci_enable_msi_block()

pci_enable_msi_block() returns a value less than the number requested.

For instance, the driver could still make use of fewer interrupts;

in this case the driver should call pci_enable_msi_block()

again.  Note that it is not guaranteed to succeed, even when the

'count' has been reduced to the value returned from a previous call to

pci_enable_msi_block().  This is because there are multiple constraints

on the number of vectors that can be allocated; pci_enable_msi_block()

will return as soon as it finds any constraint that doesn't allow the

returns as soon as it finds any constraint that doesn't allow the

call to succeed.

4.2.3 pci_disable_msi

interrupt(s).  The interrupt may subsequently be assigned to another

device, so drivers should not cache the value of dev->irq.

A device driver must always call free_irq() on the interrupt(s)

for which it has called request_irq() before calling this function.

Failure to do so will result in a BUG_ON(), the device will be left with

MSI enabled and will leak its vector.

Before calling this function, a device driver must always call free_irq()

on any interrupt for which it previously called request_irq().

Failure to do so results in a BUG_ON(), leaving the device with

MSI enabled and thus leaking its vector.

4.3 Using MSI-X

};

This allows for the device to use these interrupts in a sparse fashion;

for example it could use interrupts 3 and 1027 and allocate only a

for example, it could use interrupts 3 and 1027 and yet allocate only a

two-element array.  The driver is expected to fill in the 'entry' value

in each element of the array to indicate which entries it wants the kernel

to assign interrupts for.  It is invalid to fill in two entries with the

in each element of the array to indicate for which entries the kernel

should assign interrupts; it is invalid to fill in two entries with the

same number.

4.3.1 pci_enable_msix

Calling this function asks the PCI subsystem to allocate 'nvec' MSIs.

The 'entries' argument is a pointer to an array of msix_entry structs

which should be at least 'nvec' entries in size.  On success, the

function will return 0 and the device will have been switched into

MSI-X interrupt mode.  The 'vector' elements in each entry will have

been filled in with the interrupt number.  The driver should then call

request_irq() for each 'vector' that it decides to use.

device is switched into MSI-X mode and the function returns 0.

The 'vector' member in each entry is populated with the interrupt number;

the driver should then call request_irq() for each 'vector' that it

decides to use.  The device driver is responsible for keeping track of the

interrupts assigned to the MSI-X vectors so it can free them again later.

If this function returns a negative number, it indicates an error and

the driver should not attempt to allocate any more MSI-X interrupts for

This function, in contrast with pci_enable_msi(), does not adjust

dev->irq.  The device will not generate interrupts for this interrupt

number once MSI-X is enabled.  The device driver is responsible for

keeping track of the interrupts assigned to the MSI-X vectors so it can

free them again later.

number once MSI-X is enabled.

Device drivers should normally call this function once per device

during the initialization phase.

It is ideal if drivers can cope with a variable number of MSI-X interrupts,

It is ideal if drivers can cope with a variable number of MSI-X interrupts;

there are many reasons why the platform may not be able to provide the

exact number a driver asks for.

exact number that a driver asks for.

A request loop to achieve that might look like:

void pci_disable_msix(struct pci_dev *dev)

This API should be used to undo the effect of pci_enable_msix().  It frees

This function should be used to undo the effect of pci_enable_msix().  It frees

the previously allocated message signaled interrupts.  The interrupts may

subsequently be assigned to another device, so drivers should not cache

the value of the 'vector' elements over a call to pci_disable_msix().

A device driver must always call free_irq() on the interrupt(s)

for which it has called request_irq() before calling this function.

Failure to do so will result in a BUG_ON(), the device will be left with

MSI enabled and will leak its vector.

Before calling this function, a device driver must always call free_irq()

on any interrupt for which it previously called request_irq().

Failure to do so results in a BUG_ON(), leaving the device with

MSI-X enabled and thus leaking its vector.

4.3.3 The MSI-X Table

4.4 Handling devices implementing both MSI and MSI-X capabilities

If a device implements both MSI and MSI-X capabilities, it can

run in either MSI mode or MSI-X mode but not both simultaneously.

run in either MSI mode or MSI-X mode, but not both simultaneously.

This is a requirement of the PCI spec, and it is enforced by the

PCI layer.  Calling pci_enable_msi() when MSI-X is already enabled or

pci_enable_msix() when MSI is already enabled will result in an error.

pci_enable_msix() when MSI is already enabled results in an error.

If a device driver wishes to switch between MSI and MSI-X at runtime,

it must first quiesce the device, then switch it back to pin-interrupt

mode, before calling pci_enable_msi() or pci_enable_msix() and resuming

above, MSI-X supports any number of interrupts between 1 and 2048.

In constrast, MSI is restricted to a maximum of 32 interrupts (and

must be a power of two).  In addition, the MSI interrupt vectors must

be allocated consecutively, so the system may not be able to allocate

be allocated consecutively, so the system might not be able to allocate

as many vectors for MSI as it could for MSI-X.  On some platforms, MSI

interrupts must all be targeted at the same set of CPUs whereas MSI-X

interrupts can all be targeted at different CPUs.

Using 'lspci -v' (as root) may show some devices with "MSI", "Message

Signalled Interrupts" or "MSI-X" capabilities.  Each of these capabilities

has an 'Enable' flag which will be followed with either "+" (enabled)

has an 'Enable' flag which is followed with either "+" (enabled)

or "-" (disabled).

Some host chipsets simply don't support MSIs properly.  If we're

lucky, the manufacturer knows this and has indicated it in the ACPI

FADT table.  In this case, Linux will automatically disable MSIs.

FADT table.  In this case, Linux automatically disables MSIs.

Some boards don't include this information in the table and so we have

to detect them ourselves.  The complete list of these is found near the

quirk_disable_all_msi() function in drivers/pci/quirks.c.

PCI configuration space (especially the Hypertransport chipsets such

as the nVidia nForce and Serverworks HT2000).  As with host chipsets,

Linux mostly knows about them and automatically enables MSIs if it can.

If you have a bridge which Linux doesn't yet know about, you can enable

If you have a bridge unknown to Linux, you can enable

MSIs in configuration space using whatever method you know works, then

enable MSIs on that bridge by doing:

0000:00:0e.0).

To disable MSIs, echo 0 instead of 1.  Changing this value should be

done with caution as it can break interrupt handling for all devices

done with caution as it could break interrupt handling for all devices

below this bridge.

Again, please notify linux-pci@vger.kernel.org of any bridges that need

5.3. Disabling MSIs on a single device

Some devices are known to have faulty MSI implementations.  Usually this

is handled in the individual device driver but occasionally it's necessary

is handled in the individual device driver, but occasionally it's necessary

to handle this with a quirk.  Some drivers have an option to disable use

of MSI.  While this is a convenient workaround for the driver author,

it is not good practise, and should not be emulated.

have enabled CONFIG_PCI_MSI.

Then, 'lspci -t' gives the list of bridges above a device.  Reading

/sys/bus/pci/devices/*/msi_bus will tell you whether MSI are enabled (1)

/sys/bus/pci/devices/*/msi_bus will tell you whether MSIs are enabled (1)

or disabled (0).  If 0 is found in any of the msi_bus files belonging

to bridges between the PCI root and the device, MSIs are disabled.

	ftp.??.kernel.org:/pub/linux/kernel/...

	?? == your country code, such as "us", "uk", "fr", etc.

	http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git

	http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git

Linux kernel mailing list:

	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org

The sign-off is a simple line at the end of the explanation for the

patch, which certifies that you wrote it or otherwise have the right to

pass it on as a open-source patch.  The rules are pretty simple: if you

pass it on as an open-source patch.  The rules are pretty simple: if you

can certify the below:

        Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1

to IOPS mode and starts providing fairness in terms of number of requests

dispatched. Note that this mode switching takes effect only for group

scheduling. For non-cgroup users nothing should change.

CFQ IO scheduler Idling Theory

===============================

Idling on a queue is primarily about waiting for the next request to come

on same queue after completion of a request. In this process CFQ will not

dispatch requests from other cfq queues even if requests are pending there.

The rationale behind idling is that it can cut down on number of seeks

on rotational media. For example, if a process is doing dependent

sequential reads (next read will come on only after completion of previous

one), then not dispatching request from other queue should help as we

did not move the disk head and kept on dispatching sequential IO from

one queue.

CFQ has following service trees and various queues are put on these trees.

	sync-idle	sync-noidle	async

All cfq queues doing synchronous sequential IO go on to sync-idle tree.

On this tree we idle on each queue individually.

All synchronous non-sequential queues go on sync-noidle tree. Also any

request which are marked with REQ_NOIDLE go on this service tree. On this

tree we do not idle on individual queues instead idle on the whole group

of queues or the tree. So if there are 4 queues waiting for IO to dispatch

we will idle only once last queue has dispatched the IO and there is

no more IO on this service tree.

All async writes go on async service tree. There is no idling on async

queues.

CFQ has some optimizations for SSDs and if it detects a non-rotational

media which can support higher queue depth (multiple requests at in

flight at a time), then it cuts down on idling of individual queues and

all the queues move to sync-noidle tree and only tree idle remains. This

tree idling provides isolation with buffered write queues on async tree.

FAQ

===

Q1. Why to idle at all on queues marked with REQ_NOIDLE.

A1. We only do tree idle (all queues on sync-noidle tree) on queues marked

    with REQ_NOIDLE. This helps in providing isolation with all the sync-idle

    queues. Otherwise in presence of many sequential readers, other

    synchronous IO might not get fair share of disk.

    For example, if there are 10 sequential readers doing IO and they get

    100ms each. If a REQ_NOIDLE request comes in, it will be scheduled

    roughly after 1 second. If after completion of REQ_NOIDLE request we

    do not idle, and after a couple of milli seconds a another REQ_NOIDLE

    request comes in, again it will be scheduled after 1second. Repeat it

    and notice how a workload can lose its disk share and suffer due to

    multiple sequential readers.

    fsync can generate dependent IO where bunch of data is written in the

    context of fsync, and later some journaling data is written. Journaling

    data comes in only after fsync has finished its IO (atleast for ext4

    that seemed to be the case). Now if one decides not to idle on fsync

    thread due to REQ_NOIDLE, then next journaling write will not get

    scheduled for another second. A process doing small fsync, will suffer

    badly in presence of multiple sequential readers.

    Hence doing tree idling on threads using REQ_NOIDLE flag on requests

    provides isolation from multiple sequential readers and at the same

    time we do not idle on individual threads.

Q2. When to specify REQ_NOIDLE

A2. I would think whenever one is doing synchronous write and not expecting

    more writes to be dispatched from same context soon, should be able

    to specify REQ_NOIDLE on writes and that probably should work well for

    most of the cases.