From: Mathieu Desnoyers Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2012 17:18:06 +0000 (-0500) Subject: Discourage use of pthread_atfork() for call_rcu handlers X-Git-Tag: v0.6.9~4 X-Git-Url: http://git.liburcu.org/?p=userspace-rcu.git;a=commitdiff_plain;h=073b42da0335223bc1b83105e4b169181f792097 Discourage use of pthread_atfork() for call_rcu handlers Discourage use of glibc pthread_atfork() for call_rcu handlers due to its inappropriate assumptions about single-threadedness while pthread atfork handlers are executing. This results in hangs within the glibc memory allocator. Reviewed-by: Paul E. McKenney Signed-off-by: Mathieu Desnoyers --- diff --git a/README b/README index ce25e3a..97fba69 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -253,3 +253,17 @@ Interaction with fork() call_rcu_after_fork_parent() after the fork(). The child process must invoke call_rcu_after_fork_child(). These three APIs are suitable for passing to pthread_atfork(). + Even though these three APIs are suitable for passing to + pthread_atfork(), use of pthread_atfork() is *STRONGLY + DISCOURAGED* for programs calling the glibc memory allocator + (malloc(), calloc(), free(), ...) within call_rcu callbacks. + This is due to limitations in the way glibc memory allocator + handles calls to the memory allocator from concurrent threads + while the pthread_atfork() handlers are executing. + Combining e.g.: + * call to free() from callbacks executed within call_rcu worker + threads, + * executing call_rcu atfork handlers within the glibc pthread + atfork mechanism, + will sometimes trigger interesting process hangs. This usually + hangs on a memory allocator lock within glibc.