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KSE(2) FreeBSD System Calls Manual KSE(2)
NAME
kse -- kernel support for user threads
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include
#include
int
kse_create(struct kse_mailbox *mbx, int newgroup);
int
kse_exit(void);
int
kse_release(struct timespec *timeout);
int
kse_switchin(mcontext_t *mcp, long val, long *loc);
int
kse_thr_interrupt(struct kse_thr_mailbox *tmbx);
int
kse_wakeup(struct kse_mailbox *mbx);
DESCRIPTION
These system calls implement kernel support for multi-threaded processes.
Overview
Traditionally, user threading has been implemented in one of two ways:
either all threads are managed in user space and the kernel is unaware of
any threading (also known as ``N to 1''), or else separate processes
sharing a common memory space are created for each thread (also known as
``N to N''). These approaches have advantages and disadvantages:
User threading Kernel threading
+ Lightweight - Heavyweight
+ User controls scheduling - Kernel controls scheduling
- Syscalls must be wrapped + No syscall wrapping required
- Cannot utilize multiple CPUs + Can utilize multiple CPUs
The KSE system is a hybrid approach that achieves the advantages of both
the user and kernel threading approaches. The underlying philosophy of
the KSE system is to give kernel support for user threading without tak-
ing away any of the user threading library's ability to make scheduling
decisions. A kernel-to-user upcall mechanism is used to pass control to
the user threading library whenever a scheduling decision needs to be
made. An arbitrarily number of user threads are multiplexed onto a fixed
number of virtual CPUs supplied by the kernel. This can be thought of as
an ``N to M'' threading scheme.
Some general implications of this approach include:
o The user process can run multiple threads simultaneously on multi-
processor machines. The kernel grants the process virtual CPUs to
schedule as it wishes; these may run concurrently on real CPUs.
o All operations that block in the kernel become asynchronous, allowing
the user process to schedule another thread when any thread blocks.
o Multiple thread schedulers within the same process are possible, and
they may operate independently of each other.
Definitions
KSE allows a user process to have multiple threads of execution in exis-
tence at the same time, some of which may be blocked in the kernel while
others may be executing or blocked in user space. A kernel scheduling
entity (KSE) is a ``virtual CPU'' granted to the process for the purpose
of executing threads. A thread that is currently executing is always
associated with exactly one KSE, whether executing in user space or in
the kernel. The KSE is said to be assigned to the thread.
The KSE becomes unassigned, and the associated thread is suspended, when
the KSE has an associated mailbox, (see below) the thread has an associ-
ated thread mailbox, (also see below) and any of the following occurs:
o The thread invokes a system call that blocks.
o The thread makes any other demand of the kernel that cannot be imme-
diately satisfied, e.g., touches a page of memory that needs to be
fetched from disk, causing a page fault.
o Another thread that was previously blocked in the kernel completes
its work in the kernel (or is interrupted) and becomes ready to
return to user space, and the current thread is returning to user
space.
o A signal is delivered to the process, and this KSE is chosen to
deliver it.
In other words, as soon as there is a scheduling decision to be made, the
KSE becomes unassigned, because the kernel does not presume to know how
the process' other runnable threads should be scheduled. Unassigned KSEs
always return to user space as soon as possible via the upcall mechanism
(described below), allowing the user process to decide how that KSE
should be utilized next. KSEs always complete as much work as possible
in the kernel before becoming unassigned.
A KSE group is a collection of KSEs that are scheduled uniformly and
which share access to the same pool of threads, which are associated with
the KSE group. A KSE group is the smallest entity to which a kernel
scheduling priority may be assigned. For the purposes of process sched-
uling and accounting, each KSE group counts similarly to a traditional
unthreaded process. Individual KSEs within a KSE group are effectively
indistinguishable, and any KSE in a KSE group may be assigned by the ker-
nel to any runnable (in the kernel) thread associated with that KSE
group. In practice, the kernel attempts to preserve the affinity between
threads and actual CPUs to optimize cache behavior, but this is invisible
to the user process. (Affinity is not yet implemented.)
Each KSE has a unique KSE mailbox supplied by the user process. A mail-
box consists of a control structure containing a pointer to an upcall
function and a user stack. The KSE invokes this function whenever it
becomes unassigned. The kernel updates this structure with information
about threads that have become runnable and signals that have been deliv-
ered before each upcall. Upcalls may be temporarily blocked by the user
thread scheduling code during critical sections.
Each user thread has a unique thread mailbox as well. Threads are
referred to using pointers to these mailboxes when communicating between
the kernel and the user thread scheduler. Each KSE's mailbox contains a
pointer to the mailbox of the user thread that the KSE is currently exe-
cuting. This pointer is saved when the thread blocks in the kernel.
Whenever a thread blocked in the kernel is ready to return to user space,
it is added to the KSE group's list of completed threads. This list is
presented to the user code at the next upcall as a linked list of thread
mailboxes.
There is a kernel-imposed limit on the number of threads in a KSE group
that may be simultaneously blocked in the kernel (this number is not cur-
rently visible to the user). When this limit is reached, upcalls are
blocked and no work is performed for the KSE group until one of the
threads completes (or a signal is received).
Managing KSEs
To become multi-threaded, a process must first invoke kse_create(). The
kse_create() system call creates a new KSE (except for the very first
invocation; see below). The KSE will be associated with the mailbox
pointed to by mbx. If newgroup is non-zero, a new KSE group is also cre-
ated containing the KSE. Otherwise, the new KSE is added to the current
KSE group. Newly created KSEs are initially unassigned; therefore, they
will upcall immediately.
Each process initially has a single KSE in a single KSE group executing a
single user thread. Since the KSE does not have an associated mailbox,
it must remain assigned to the thread and does not perform any upcalls.
The result is the traditional, unthreaded mode of operation. Therefore,
as a special case, the first call to kse_create() by this initial thread
with newgroup equal to zero does not create a new KSE; instead, it simply
associates the current KSE with the supplied KSE mailbox, and no immedi-
ate upcall results. However, an upcall will be triggered the next time
the thread blocks and the required conditions are met.
The kernel does not allow more KSEs to exist in a KSE group than the num-
ber of physical CPUs in the system (this number is available as the
sysctl(3) variable hw.ncpu). Having more KSEs than CPUs would not add
any value to the user process, as the additional KSEs would just compete
with each other for access to the real CPUs. Since the extra KSEs would
always be side-lined, the result to the application would be exactly the
same as having fewer KSEs. There may however be arbitrarily many user
threads, and it is up to the user thread scheduler to handle mapping the
application's user threads onto the available KSEs.
The kse_exit() system call causes the KSE assigned to the currently run-
ning thread to be destroyed. If this KSE is the last one in the KSE
group, there must be no remaining threads associated with the KSE group
blocked in the kernel. This system call does not return unless there is
an error.
As a special case, if the last remaining KSE in the last remaining KSE
group invokes this system call, then the KSE is not destroyed; instead,
the KSE just looses the association with its mailbox and kse_exit()
returns normally. This returns the process to its original, unthreaded
state.
The kse_release() system call is used to ``park'' the KSE assigned to the
currently running thread when it is not needed, e.g., when there are more
available KSEs than runnable user threads. The thread converts to an
upcall but does not get scheduled until there is a new reason to do so,
e.g., a previously blocked thread becomes runnable, or the timeout
expires. If successful, kse_release() does not return to the caller.
The kse_switchin() system call can be used by the UTS, when it has
selected a new thread, to switch to the context of that thread. The use
of kse_switchin() is machine dependent. Some platforms do not need a
system call to switch to a new context, while others require its use in
particular cases.
The kse_wakeup() system call is the opposite of kse_release(). It causes
the (parked) KSE associated with the mailbox pointed to by mbx to be
woken up, causing it to upcall. If the KSE has already woken up for
another reason, this system call has no effect. The mbx argument may be
NULL to specify ``any KSE in the current KSE group''.
The kse_thr_interrupt() system call is used to interrupt a currently
blocked thread. The thread must either be blocked in the kernel or
assigned to a KSE (i.e., executing). The thread is then marked as inter-
rupted. As soon as the thread invokes an interruptible system call (or
immediately for threads already blocked in one), the thread will be made
runnable again, even though the kernel operation may not have completed.
The effect on the interrupted system call is the same as if it had been
interrupted by a signal; typically this means an error is returned with
errno set to EINTR.
Signals
The current implementation creates a special signal thread. Kernel
threads (KSEs) in a process mask all signals, and only the signal thread
waits for signals to be delivered to the process, the signal thread is
responsible for dispatching signals to user threads.
A downside of this is that if a multiplexed thread calls the execve()
syscall, its signal mask and pending signals may not be available in the
kernel. They are stored in userland and the kernel does not know where
to get them, however POSIX requires them to be restored and passed them
to new process. Just setting the mask for the thread before calling
execve() is only a close approximation to the problem as it does not re-
deliver back to the kernel any pending signals that the old process may
have blocked, and it allows a window in which new signals may be deliv-
ered to the process between the setting of the mask and the execve().
For now this problem has been solved by adding a special combined
kse_thr_interrupt()/execve() mode to the kse_thr_interrupt() syscall.
The kse_thr_interrupt() syscall has a sub command KSE_INTR_EXECVE, that
allows it to accept a kse_execv_args structure, and allowing it to adjust
the signals and then atomically convert into an execve() call. Addi-
tional pending signals and the correct signal mask can be passed to the
kernel in this way. The thread library overrides the execve() syscall
and translates it into kse_intr_interrupt() call, allowing a multiplexed
thread to restore pending signals and the correct signal mask before
doing the exec(). This solution to the problem may change.
KSE Mailboxes
Each KSE has a unique mailbox for user-kernel communication defined in
<sys/kse.h>. Some of the fields there are:
km_version describes the version of this structure and must be equal to
KSE_VER_0. km_udata is an opaque pointer ignored by the kernel.
km_func points to the KSE's upcall function; it will be invoked using
km_stack, which must remain valid for the lifetime of the KSE.
km_curthread always points to the thread that is currently assigned to
this KSE if any, or NULL otherwise. This field is modified by both the
kernel and the user process as follows.
When km_curthread is not NULL, it is assumed to be pointing at the mail-
box for the currently executing thread, and the KSE may be unassigned,
e.g., if the thread blocks in the kernel. The kernel will then save the
contents of km_curthread with the blocked thread, set km_curthread to
NULL, and upcall to invoke km_func().
When km_curthread is NULL, the kernel will never perform any upcalls with
this KSE; in other words, the KSE remains assigned to the thread even if
it blocks. km_curthread must be NULL while the KSE is executing critical
user thread scheduler code that would be disrupted by an intervening
upcall; in particular, while km_func() itself is executing.
Before invoking km_func() in any upcall, the kernel always sets
km_curthread to NULL. Once the user thread scheduler has chosen a new
thread to run, it should point km_curthread at the thread's mailbox, re-
enabling upcalls, and then resume the thread. Note: modification of
km_curthread by the user thread scheduler must be atomic with the loading
of the context of the new thread, to avoid the situation where the thread
context area may be modified by a blocking async operation, while there
is still valid information to be read out of it.
km_completed points to a linked list of user threads that have completed
their work in the kernel since the last upcall. The user thread sched-
uler should put these threads back into its own runnable queue. Each
thread in a KSE group that completes a kernel operation (synchronous or
asynchronous) that results in an upcall is guaranteed to be linked into
exactly one KSE's km_completed list; which KSE in the group, however, is
indeterminate. Furthermore, the completion will be reported in only one
upcall.
km_sigscaught contains the list of signals caught by this process since
the previous upcall to any KSE in the process. As long as there exists
one or more KSEs with an associated mailbox in the user process, signals
are delivered this way rather than the traditional way. (This has not
been implemented and may change.)
km_timeofday is set by the kernel to the current system time before per-
forming each upcall.
km_flags may contain any of the following bits OR'ed together:
KMF_NOUPCALL
Block upcalls from happening. The thread is in some critical
section.
KMF_NOCOMPLETED, KMF_DONE, KMF_BOUND
This thread should be considered to be permanently bound to its
KSE, and treated much like a non-threaded process would be. It
is a ``long term'' version of KMF_NOUPCALL in some ways.
KMF_WAITSIGEVENT
Implement characteristics needed for the signal delivery thread.
Thread Mailboxes
Each user thread must have associated with it a unique struct
kse_thr_mailbox as defined in <sys/kse.h>. It includes the following
fields.
tm_udata is an opaque pointer ignored by the kernel.
tm_context stores the context for the thread when the thread is blocked
in user space. This field is also updated by the kernel before a com-
pleted thread is returned to the user thread scheduler via km_completed.
tm_next links the km_completed threads together when returned by the ker-
nel with an upcall. The end of the list is marked with a NULL pointer.
tm_uticks and tm_sticks are time counters for user mode and kernel mode
execution, respectively. These counters count ticks of the statistics
clock (see clocks(7)). While any thread is actively executing in the
kernel, the corresponding tm_sticks counter is incremented. While any
KSE is executing in user space and that KSE's km_curthread pointer is not
equal to NULL, the corresponding tm_uticks counter is incremented.
tm_flags may contain any of the following bits OR'ed together:
TMF_NOUPCALL
Similar to KMF_NOUPCALL. This flag inhibits upcalling for criti-
cal sections. Some architectures require this to be in one place
and some in the other.
RETURN VALUES
The kse_create(), kse_wakeup(), and kse_thr_interrupt() system calls
return zero if successful. The kse_exit() and kse_release() system calls
do not return if successful.
All of these system calls return a non-zero error code in case of an
error.
ERRORS
The kse_create() system call will fail if:
[ENXIO] There are already as many KSEs in the KSE group as
hardware processors.
[EAGAIN] The system-imposed limit on the total number of KSE
groups under execution would be exceeded. The limit
is given by the sysctl(3) MIB variable KERN_MAXPROC.
(The limit is actually ten less than this except for
the super user.)
[EAGAIN] The user is not the super user, and the system-imposed
limit on the total number of KSE groups under execu-
tion by a single user would be exceeded. The limit is
given by the sysctl(3) MIB variable
KERN_MAXPROCPERUID.
[EAGAIN] The user is not the super user, and the soft resource
limit corresponding to the resource argument
RLIMIT_NPROC would be exceeded (see getrlimit(2)).
[EFAULT] The mbx argument points to an address which is not a
valid part of the process address space.
The kse_exit() system call will fail if:
[EDEADLK] The current KSE is the last in its KSE group and there
are still one or more threads associated with the KSE
group blocked in the kernel.
[ESRCH] The current KSE has no associated mailbox, i.e., the
process is operating in traditional, unthreaded mode
(in this case use _exit(2) to exit the process).
The kse_release() system call will fail if:
[ESRCH] The current KSE has no associated mailbox, i.e., the
process is operating is traditional, unthreaded mode.
The kse_wakeup() system call will fail if:
[ESRCH] The mbx argument is not NULL and the mailbox pointed
to by mbx is not associated with any KSE in the
process.
[ESRCH] The mbx argument is NULL and the current KSE has no
associated mailbox, i.e., the process is operating in
traditional, unthreaded mode.
The kse_thr_interrupt() system call will fail if:
[ESRCH] The thread corresponding to tmbx is neither currently
assigned to any KSE in the process nor blocked in the
kernel.
SEE ALSO
rfork(2), pthread(3), ucontext(3)
Thomas E. Anderson, Brian N. Bershad, Edward D. Lazowska, and Henry M.
Levy, "Scheduler activations: effective kernel support for the user-level
management of parallelism", ACM Press, ACM Transactions on Computer
Systems, Issue 1, Volume 10, pp. 53-79, February 1992.
HISTORY
The KSE system calls first appeared in FreeBSD 5.0.
AUTHORS
KSE was originally implemented by Julian Elischer ,
with additional contributions by Jonathan Mini , Daniel
Eischen , and David Xu .
This manual page was written by Archie Cobbs .
BUGS
The KSE code is currently under development.
FreeBSD 6.1 September 10, 2002 FreeBSD 6.1
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