blob: 889961915f4e66c73390083c254f016208ba2b04 [file] [log] [blame]
//! Efficient read-write locking without `pthread_rwlock_t`.
//!
//! The readers-writer lock provided by the `pthread` library has a number of
//! problems which make it a suboptimal choice for `std`:
//!
//! * It is non-movable, so it needs to be allocated (lazily, to make the
//! constructor `const`).
//! * `pthread` is an external library, meaning the fast path of acquiring an
//! uncontended lock cannot be inlined.
//! * Some platforms (at least glibc before version 2.25) have buggy implementations
//! that can easily lead to undefined behavior in safe Rust code when not properly
//! guarded against.
//! * On some platforms (e.g. macOS), the lock is very slow.
//!
//! Therefore, we implement our own `RwLock`! Naively, one might reach for a
//! spinlock, but those [can be quite problematic] when the lock is contended.
//! Instead, this readers-writer lock copies its implementation strategy from
//! the Windows [SRWLOCK] and the [usync] library. Spinning is still used for the
//! fast path, but it is bounded: after spinning fails, threads will locklessly
//! add an information structure containing a [`Thread`] handle into a queue of
//! waiters associated with the lock. The lock owner, upon releasing the lock,
//! will scan through the queue and wake up threads as appropriate, which will
//! then again try to acquire the lock. The resulting [`RwLock`] is:
//!
//! * adaptive, since it spins before doing any heavywheight parking operations
//! * allocation-free, modulo the per-thread [`Thread`] handle, which is
//! allocated regardless when using threads created by `std`
//! * writer-preferring, even if some readers may still slip through
//! * unfair, which reduces context-switching and thus drastically improves
//! performance
//!
//! and also quite fast in most cases.
//!
//! [can be quite problematic]: https://matklad.github.io/2020/01/02/spinlocks-considered-harmful.html
//! [SRWLOCK]: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/sync/slim-reader-writer--srw--locks
//! [usync]: https://crates.io/crates/usync
//!
//! # Implementation
//!
//! ## State
//!
//! A single [`AtomicPtr`] is used as state variable. The lowest three bits are used
//! to indicate the meaning of the remaining bits:
//!
//! | [`LOCKED`] | [`QUEUED`] | [`QUEUE_LOCKED`] | Remaining | |
//! |:-----------|:-----------|:-----------------|:-------------|:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
//! | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | The lock is unlocked, no threads are waiting |
//! | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | The lock is write-locked, no threads waiting |
//! | 1 | 0 | 0 | n > 0 | The lock is read-locked with n readers |
//! | 0 | 1 | * | `*mut Node` | The lock is unlocked, but some threads are waiting. Only writers may lock the lock |
//! | 1 | 1 | * | `*mut Node` | The lock is locked, but some threads are waiting. If the lock is read-locked, the last queue node contains the reader count |
//!
//! ## Waiter queue
//!
//! When threads are waiting on the lock (`QUEUE` is set), the lock state
//! points to a queue of waiters, which is implemented as a linked list of
//! nodes stored on the stack to avoid memory allocation. To enable lockless
//! enqueuing of new nodes to the queue, the linked list is single-linked upon
//! creation. Since when the lock is read-locked, the lock count is stored in
//! the last link of the queue, threads have to traverse the queue to find the
//! last element upon releasing the lock. To avoid having to traverse the whole
//! list again and again, a pointer to the found tail is cached in the (current)
//! first element of the queue.
//!
//! Also, while the lock is unfair for performance reasons, it is still best to
//! wake the tail node first, which requires backlinks to previous nodes to be
//! created. This is done at the same time as finding the tail, and thus a set
//! tail field indicates the remaining portion of the queue is initialized.
//!
//! TLDR: Here's a diagram of what the queue looks like:
//!
//! ```text
//! state
//! │
//! ▼
//! ╭───────╮ next ╭───────╮ next ╭───────╮ next ╭───────╮
//! │ ├─────►│ ├─────►│ ├─────►│ count │
//! │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
//! │ │ │ │◄─────┤ │◄─────┤ │
//! ╰───────╯ ╰───────╯ prev ╰───────╯ prev ╰───────╯
//! │ ▲
//! └───────────────────────────┘
//! tail
//! ```
//!
//! Invariants:
//! 1. At least one node must contain a non-null, current `tail` field.
//! 2. The first non-null `tail` field must be valid and current.
//! 3. All nodes preceding this node must have a correct, non-null `next` field.
//! 4. All nodes following this node must have a correct, non-null `prev` field.
//!
//! Access to the queue is controlled by the `QUEUE_LOCKED` bit, which threads
//! try to set both after enqueuing themselves to eagerly add backlinks to the
//! queue, which drastically improves performance, and after unlocking the lock
//! to wake the next waiter(s). This is done atomically at the same time as the
//! enqueuing/unlocking operation. The thread releasing the `QUEUE_LOCK` bit
//! will check the state of the lock and wake up waiters as appropriate. This
//! guarantees forward-progress even if the unlocking thread could not acquire
//! the queue lock.
//!
//! ## Memory orderings
//!
//! To properly synchronize changes to the data protected by the lock, the lock
//! is acquired and released with [`Acquire`] and [`Release`] ordering, respectively.
//! To propagate the initialization of nodes, changes to the queue lock are also
//! performed using these orderings.
#![forbid(unsafe_op_in_unsafe_fn)]
use crate::cell::OnceCell;
use crate::hint::spin_loop;
use crate::mem;
use crate::ptr::{self, NonNull, null_mut, without_provenance_mut};
use crate::sync::atomic::Ordering::{AcqRel, Acquire, Relaxed, Release};
use crate::sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, AtomicPtr};
use crate::thread::{self, Thread, ThreadId};
// Locking uses exponential backoff. `SPIN_COUNT` indicates how many times the
// locking operation will be retried.
// `spin_loop` will be called `2.pow(SPIN_COUNT) - 1` times.
const SPIN_COUNT: usize = 7;
type State = *mut ();
type AtomicState = AtomicPtr<()>;
const UNLOCKED: State = without_provenance_mut(0);
const LOCKED: usize = 1;
const QUEUED: usize = 2;
const QUEUE_LOCKED: usize = 4;
const SINGLE: usize = 8;
const MASK: usize = !(QUEUE_LOCKED | QUEUED | LOCKED);
/// Marks the state as write-locked, if possible.
#[inline]
fn write_lock(state: State) -> Option<State> {
let state = state.wrapping_byte_add(LOCKED);
if state.addr() & LOCKED == LOCKED { Some(state) } else { None }
}
/// Marks the state as read-locked, if possible.
#[inline]
fn read_lock(state: State) -> Option<State> {
if state.addr() & QUEUED == 0 && state.addr() != LOCKED {
Some(without_provenance_mut(state.addr().checked_add(SINGLE)? | LOCKED))
} else {
None
}
}
/// Masks the state, assuming it points to a queue node.
///
/// # Safety
/// The state must contain a valid pointer to a queue node.
#[inline]
unsafe fn to_node(state: State) -> NonNull<Node> {
unsafe { NonNull::new_unchecked(state.mask(MASK)).cast() }
}
/// An atomic node pointer with relaxed operations.
struct AtomicLink(AtomicPtr<Node>);
impl AtomicLink {
fn new(v: Option<NonNull<Node>>) -> AtomicLink {
AtomicLink(AtomicPtr::new(v.map_or(null_mut(), NonNull::as_ptr)))
}
fn get(&self) -> Option<NonNull<Node>> {
NonNull::new(self.0.load(Relaxed))
}
fn set(&self, v: Option<NonNull<Node>>) {
self.0.store(v.map_or(null_mut(), NonNull::as_ptr), Relaxed);
}
}
#[repr(align(8))]
struct Node {
next: AtomicLink,
prev: AtomicLink,
tail: AtomicLink,
write: bool,
thread: OnceCell<Thread>,
completed: AtomicBool,
}
impl Node {
/// Creates a new queue node.
fn new(write: bool) -> Node {
Node {
next: AtomicLink::new(None),
prev: AtomicLink::new(None),
tail: AtomicLink::new(None),
write,
thread: OnceCell::new(),
completed: AtomicBool::new(false),
}
}
/// Prepare this node for waiting.
fn prepare(&mut self) {
// Fall back to creating an unnamed `Thread` handle to allow locking in
// TLS destructors.
self.thread.get_or_init(|| {
thread::try_current().unwrap_or_else(|| Thread::new_unnamed(ThreadId::new()))
});
self.completed = AtomicBool::new(false);
}
/// Wait until this node is marked as completed.
///
/// # Safety
/// May only be called from the thread that created the node.
unsafe fn wait(&self) {
while !self.completed.load(Acquire) {
unsafe {
self.thread.get().unwrap().park();
}
}
}
/// Atomically mark this node as completed. The node may not outlive this call.
unsafe fn complete(this: NonNull<Node>) {
// Since the node may be destroyed immediately after the completed flag
// is set, clone the thread handle before that.
let thread = unsafe { this.as_ref().thread.get().unwrap().clone() };
unsafe {
this.as_ref().completed.store(true, Release);
}
thread.unpark();
}
}
struct PanicGuard;
impl Drop for PanicGuard {
fn drop(&mut self) {
rtabort!("tried to drop node in intrusive list.");
}
}
/// Add backlinks to the queue, returning the tail.
///
/// May be called from multiple threads at the same time, while the queue is not
/// modified (this happens when unlocking multiple readers).
///
/// # Safety
/// * `head` must point to a node in a valid queue.
/// * `head` must be or be in front of the head of the queue at the time of the
/// last removal.
/// * The part of the queue starting with `head` must not be modified during this
/// call.
unsafe fn add_backlinks_and_find_tail(head: NonNull<Node>) -> NonNull<Node> {
let mut current = head;
let tail = loop {
let c = unsafe { current.as_ref() };
match c.tail.get() {
Some(tail) => break tail,
// SAFETY:
// All `next` fields before the first node with a `set` tail are
// non-null and valid (invariant 3).
None => unsafe {
let next = c.next.get().unwrap_unchecked();
next.as_ref().prev.set(Some(current));
current = next;
},
}
};
unsafe {
head.as_ref().tail.set(Some(tail));
tail
}
}
pub struct RwLock {
state: AtomicState,
}
impl RwLock {
#[inline]
pub const fn new() -> RwLock {
RwLock { state: AtomicPtr::new(UNLOCKED) }
}
#[inline]
pub fn try_read(&self) -> bool {
self.state.fetch_update(Acquire, Relaxed, read_lock).is_ok()
}
#[inline]
pub fn read(&self) {
if !self.try_read() {
self.lock_contended(false)
}
}
#[inline]
pub fn try_write(&self) -> bool {
// Atomically set the `LOCKED` bit. This is lowered to a single atomic
// instruction on most modern processors (e.g. "lock bts" on x86 and
// "ldseta" on modern AArch64), and therefore is more efficient than
// `fetch_update(lock(true))`, which can spuriously fail if a new node
// is appended to the queue.
self.state.fetch_or(LOCKED, Acquire).addr() & LOCKED == 0
}
#[inline]
pub fn write(&self) {
if !self.try_write() {
self.lock_contended(true)
}
}
#[cold]
fn lock_contended(&self, write: bool) {
let update = if write { write_lock } else { read_lock };
let mut node = Node::new(write);
let mut state = self.state.load(Relaxed);
let mut count = 0;
loop {
if let Some(next) = update(state) {
// The lock is available, try locking it.
match self.state.compare_exchange_weak(state, next, Acquire, Relaxed) {
Ok(_) => return,
Err(new) => state = new,
}
} else if state.addr() & QUEUED == 0 && count < SPIN_COUNT {
// If the lock is not available and no threads are queued, spin
// for a while, using exponential backoff to decrease cache
// contention.
for _ in 0..(1 << count) {
spin_loop();
}
state = self.state.load(Relaxed);
count += 1;
} else {
// Fall back to parking. First, prepare the node.
node.prepare();
// If there are threads queued, set the `next` field to a
// pointer to the next node in the queue. Otherwise set it to
// the lock count if the state is read-locked or to zero if it
// is write-locked.
node.next.0 = AtomicPtr::new(state.mask(MASK).cast());
node.prev = AtomicLink::new(None);
let mut next = ptr::from_ref(&node)
.map_addr(|addr| addr | QUEUED | (state.addr() & LOCKED))
as State;
if state.addr() & QUEUED == 0 {
// If this is the first node in the queue, set the tail field to
// the node itself to ensure there is a current `tail` field in
// the queue (invariants 1 and 2). This needs to use `set` to
// avoid invalidating the new pointer.
node.tail.set(Some(NonNull::from(&node)));
} else {
// Otherwise, the tail of the queue is not known.
node.tail.set(None);
// Try locking the queue to eagerly add backlinks.
next = next.map_addr(|addr| addr | QUEUE_LOCKED);
}
// Register the node, using release ordering to propagate our
// changes to the waking thread.
if let Err(new) = self.state.compare_exchange_weak(state, next, AcqRel, Relaxed) {
// The state has changed, just try again.
state = new;
continue;
}
// The node is registered, so the structure must not be
// mutably accessed or destroyed while other threads may
// be accessing it. Guard against unwinds using a panic
// guard that aborts when dropped.
let guard = PanicGuard;
// If the current thread locked the queue, unlock it again,
// linking it in the process.
if state.addr() & (QUEUE_LOCKED | QUEUED) == QUEUED {
unsafe {
self.unlock_queue(next);
}
}
// Wait until the node is removed from the queue.
// SAFETY: the node was created by the current thread.
unsafe {
node.wait();
}
// The node was removed from the queue, disarm the guard.
mem::forget(guard);
// Reload the state and try again.
state = self.state.load(Relaxed);
count = 0;
}
}
}
#[inline]
pub unsafe fn read_unlock(&self) {
match self.state.fetch_update(Release, Acquire, |state| {
if state.addr() & QUEUED == 0 {
let count = state.addr() - (SINGLE | LOCKED);
Some(if count > 0 { without_provenance_mut(count | LOCKED) } else { UNLOCKED })
} else {
None
}
}) {
Ok(_) => {}
// There are waiters queued and the lock count was moved to the
// tail of the queue.
Err(state) => unsafe { self.read_unlock_contended(state) },
}
}
#[cold]
unsafe fn read_unlock_contended(&self, state: State) {
// The state was observed with acquire ordering above, so the current
// thread will observe all node initializations.
// SAFETY:
// Because new read-locks cannot be acquired while threads are queued,
// all queue-lock owners will observe the set `LOCKED` bit. Because they
// do not modify the queue while there is a lock owner, the queue will
// not be removed from here.
let tail = unsafe { add_backlinks_and_find_tail(to_node(state)).as_ref() };
// The lock count is stored in the `next` field of `tail`.
// Decrement it, making sure to observe all changes made to the queue
// by the other lock owners by using acquire-release ordering.
let was_last = tail.next.0.fetch_byte_sub(SINGLE, AcqRel).addr() - SINGLE == 0;
if was_last {
// SAFETY:
// Other threads cannot read-lock while threads are queued. Also,
// the `LOCKED` bit is still set, so there are no writers. Therefore,
// the current thread exclusively owns the lock.
unsafe { self.unlock_contended(state) }
}
}
#[inline]
pub unsafe fn write_unlock(&self) {
if let Err(state) =
self.state.compare_exchange(without_provenance_mut(LOCKED), UNLOCKED, Release, Relaxed)
{
// SAFETY:
// Since other threads cannot acquire the lock, the state can only
// have changed because there are threads queued on the lock.
unsafe { self.unlock_contended(state) }
}
}
/// # Safety
/// * The lock must be exclusively owned by this thread.
/// * There must be threads queued on the lock.
#[cold]
unsafe fn unlock_contended(&self, mut state: State) {
loop {
// Atomically release the lock and try to acquire the queue lock.
let next = state.map_addr(|a| (a & !LOCKED) | QUEUE_LOCKED);
match self.state.compare_exchange_weak(state, next, AcqRel, Relaxed) {
// The queue lock was acquired. Release it, waking up the next
// waiter in the process.
Ok(_) if state.addr() & QUEUE_LOCKED == 0 => unsafe {
return self.unlock_queue(next);
},
// Another thread already holds the queue lock, leave waking up
// waiters to it.
Ok(_) => return,
Err(new) => state = new,
}
}
}
/// Unlocks the queue. If the lock is unlocked, wakes up the next eligible
/// thread(s).
///
/// # Safety
/// The queue lock must be held by the current thread.
unsafe fn unlock_queue(&self, mut state: State) {
debug_assert_eq!(state.addr() & (QUEUED | QUEUE_LOCKED), QUEUED | QUEUE_LOCKED);
loop {
let tail = unsafe { add_backlinks_and_find_tail(to_node(state)) };
if state.addr() & LOCKED == LOCKED {
// Another thread has locked the lock. Leave waking up waiters
// to them by releasing the queue lock.
match self.state.compare_exchange_weak(
state,
state.mask(!QUEUE_LOCKED),
Release,
Acquire,
) {
Ok(_) => return,
Err(new) => {
state = new;
continue;
}
}
}
let is_writer = unsafe { tail.as_ref().write };
if is_writer && let Some(prev) = unsafe { tail.as_ref().prev.get() } {
// `tail` is a writer and there is a node before `tail`.
// Split off `tail`.
// There are no set `tail` links before the node pointed to by
// `state`, so the first non-null tail field will be current
// (invariant 2). Invariant 4 is fullfilled since `find_tail`
// was called on this node, which ensures all backlinks are set.
unsafe {
to_node(state).as_ref().tail.set(Some(prev));
}
// Release the queue lock. Doing this by subtraction is more
// efficient on modern processors since it is a single instruction
// instead of an update loop, which will fail if new threads are
// added to the list.
self.state.fetch_byte_sub(QUEUE_LOCKED, Release);
// The tail was split off and the lock released. Mark the node as
// completed.
unsafe {
return Node::complete(tail);
}
} else {
// The next waiter is a reader or the queue only consists of one
// waiter. Just wake all threads.
// The lock cannot be locked (checked above), so mark it as
// unlocked to reset the queue.
if let Err(new) =
self.state.compare_exchange_weak(state, UNLOCKED, Release, Acquire)
{
state = new;
continue;
}
let mut current = tail;
loop {
let prev = unsafe { current.as_ref().prev.get() };
unsafe {
Node::complete(current);
}
match prev {
Some(prev) => current = prev,
None => return,
}
}
}
}
}
}