Doc/cpu-hotplug: Specify race-free way to register CPU hotplug callbacks

Recommend the usage of the new CPU hotplug callback registration APIs
(__register_cpu_notifier() etc), when subsystems need to also perform
initialization for already online CPUs. Provide examples of correct
and race-free ways of achieving this, and point out the kinds of code
that are error-prone.

Cc: Rob Landley <rob@landley.net>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Srivatsa S. Bhat <srivatsa.bhat@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Rafael J. Wysocki <rafael.j.wysocki@intel.com>

1 files changed, 45 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/cpu-hotplug.txt b/Documentation/cpu-hotplug.txt
index be675d2d15a7..a0b005d2bd95 100644
--- a/Documentation/cpu-hotplug.txt
+++ b/Documentation/cpu-hotplug.txt
@@ -312,12 +312,57 @@ things will happen if a notifier in path sent a BAD notify code.
 Q: I don't see my action being called for all CPUs already up and running?
 A: Yes, CPU notifiers are called only when new CPUs are on-lined or offlined.
    If you need to perform some action for each cpu already in the system, then
+   do this:
 
 	for_each_online_cpu(i) {
 		foobar_cpu_callback(&foobar_cpu_notifier, CPU_UP_PREPARE, i);
 		foobar_cpu_callback(&foobar_cpu_notifier, CPU_ONLINE, i);
 	}
 
+   However, if you want to register a hotplug callback, as well as perform
+   some initialization for CPUs that are already online, then do this:
+
+   Version 1: (Correct)
+   ---------
+
+   	cpu_notifier_register_begin();
+
+		for_each_online_cpu(i) {
+			foobar_cpu_callback(&foobar_cpu_notifier,
+					    CPU_UP_PREPARE, i);
+			foobar_cpu_callback(&foobar_cpu_notifier,
+					    CPU_ONLINE, i);
+		}
+
+	/* Note the use of the double underscored version of the API */
+	__register_cpu_notifier(&foobar_cpu_notifier);
+
+	cpu_notifier_register_done();
+
+   Note that the following code is *NOT* the right way to achieve this,
+   because it is prone to an ABBA deadlock between the cpu_add_remove_lock
+   and the cpu_hotplug.lock.
+
+   Version 2: (Wrong!)
+   ---------
+
+	get_online_cpus();
+
+		for_each_online_cpu(i) {
+			foobar_cpu_callback(&foobar_cpu_notifier,
+					    CPU_UP_PREPARE, i);
+			foobar_cpu_callback(&foobar_cpu_notifier,
+					    CPU_ONLINE, i);
+		}
+
+	register_cpu_notifier(&foobar_cpu_notifier);
+
+	put_online_cpus();
+
+    So always use the first version shown above when you want to register
+    callbacks as well as initialize the already online CPUs.
+
+
 Q: If i would like to develop cpu hotplug support for a new architecture,
    what do i need at a minimum?
 A: The following are what is required for CPU hotplug infrastructure to work