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authorThomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>2025-12-15 17:52:04 +0100
committerPeter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>2026-01-22 11:11:16 +0100
commitd7a5da7a0f7fa7ff081140c4f6f971db98882703 (patch)
tree5470dbdccb47bf19beda69bdcfd8d078d87f17c0 /Documentation/userspace-api
parent4fe82cf3024a4bdd2571d584efc25598533d5c96 (diff)
rseq: Add fields and constants for time slice extension
Aside of a Kconfig knob add the following items: - Two flag bits for the rseq user space ABI, which allow user space to query the availability and enablement without a syscall. - A new member to the user space ABI struct rseq, which is going to be used to communicate request and grant between kernel and user space. - A rseq state struct to hold the kernel state of this - Documentation of the new mechanism Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org> Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20251215155708.669472597@linutronix.de
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/userspace-api')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/userspace-api/index.rst1
-rw-r--r--Documentation/userspace-api/rseq.rst135
2 files changed, 136 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/userspace-api/index.rst b/Documentation/userspace-api/index.rst
index 8a61ac4c1bf1..fa0fe8ada68e 100644
--- a/Documentation/userspace-api/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/userspace-api/index.rst
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ System calls
ebpf/index
ioctl/index
mseal
+ rseq
Security-related interfaces
===========================
diff --git a/Documentation/userspace-api/rseq.rst b/Documentation/userspace-api/rseq.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e1fdb0d5ce69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/userspace-api/rseq.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+=====================
+Restartable Sequences
+=====================
+
+Restartable Sequences allow to register a per thread userspace memory area
+to be used as an ABI between kernel and userspace for three purposes:
+
+ * userspace restartable sequences
+
+ * quick access to read the current CPU number, node ID from userspace
+
+ * scheduler time slice extensions
+
+Restartable sequences (per-cpu atomics)
+---------------------------------------
+
+Restartable sequences allow userspace to perform update operations on
+per-cpu data without requiring heavyweight atomic operations. The actual
+ABI is unfortunately only available in the code and selftests.
+
+Quick access to CPU number, node ID
+-----------------------------------
+
+Allows to implement per CPU data efficiently. Documentation is in code and
+selftests. :(
+
+Scheduler time slice extensions
+-------------------------------
+
+This allows a thread to request a time slice extension when it enters a
+critical section to avoid contention on a resource when the thread is
+scheduled out inside of the critical section.
+
+The prerequisites for this functionality are:
+
+ * Enabled in Kconfig
+
+ * Enabled at boot time (default is enabled)
+
+ * A rseq userspace pointer has been registered for the thread
+
+The thread has to enable the functionality via prctl(2)::
+
+ prctl(PR_RSEQ_SLICE_EXTENSION, PR_RSEQ_SLICE_EXTENSION_SET,
+ PR_RSEQ_SLICE_EXT_ENABLE, 0, 0);
+
+prctl() returns 0 on success or otherwise with the following error codes:
+
+========= ==============================================================
+Errorcode Meaning
+========= ==============================================================
+EINVAL Functionality not available or invalid function arguments.
+ Note: arg4 and arg5 must be zero
+ENOTSUPP Functionality was disabled on the kernel command line
+ENXIO Available, but no rseq user struct registered
+========= ==============================================================
+
+The state can be also queried via prctl(2)::
+
+ prctl(PR_RSEQ_SLICE_EXTENSION, PR_RSEQ_SLICE_EXTENSION_GET, 0, 0, 0);
+
+prctl() returns ``PR_RSEQ_SLICE_EXT_ENABLE`` when it is enabled or 0 if
+disabled. Otherwise it returns with the following error codes:
+
+========= ==============================================================
+Errorcode Meaning
+========= ==============================================================
+EINVAL Functionality not available or invalid function arguments.
+ Note: arg3 and arg4 and arg5 must be zero
+========= ==============================================================
+
+The availability and status is also exposed via the rseq ABI struct flags
+field via the ``RSEQ_CS_FLAG_SLICE_EXT_AVAILABLE_BIT`` and the
+``RSEQ_CS_FLAG_SLICE_EXT_ENABLED_BIT``. These bits are read-only for user
+space and only for informational purposes.
+
+If the mechanism was enabled via prctl(), the thread can request a time
+slice extension by setting rseq::slice_ctrl::request to 1. If the thread is
+interrupted and the interrupt results in a reschedule request in the
+kernel, then the kernel can grant a time slice extension and return to
+userspace instead of scheduling out. The length of the extension is
+determined by the ``rseq_slice_extension_nsec`` sysctl.
+
+The kernel indicates the grant by clearing rseq::slice_ctrl::request and
+setting rseq::slice_ctrl::granted to 1. If there is a reschedule of the
+thread after granting the extension, the kernel clears the granted bit to
+indicate that to userspace.
+
+If the request bit is still set when the leaving the critical section,
+userspace can clear it and continue.
+
+If the granted bit is set, then userspace invokes rseq_slice_yield(2) when
+leaving the critical section to relinquish the CPU. The kernel enforces
+this by arming a timer to prevent misbehaving userspace from abusing this
+mechanism.
+
+If both the request bit and the granted bit are false when leaving the
+critical section, then this indicates that a grant was revoked and no
+further action is required by userspace.
+
+The required code flow is as follows::
+
+ rseq->slice_ctrl.request = 1;
+ barrier(); // Prevent compiler reordering
+ critical_section();
+ barrier(); // Prevent compiler reordering
+ rseq->slice_ctrl.request = 0;
+ if (rseq->slice_ctrl.granted)
+ rseq_slice_yield();
+
+As all of this is strictly CPU local, there are no atomicity requirements.
+Checking the granted state is racy, but that cannot be avoided at all::
+
+ if (rseq->slice_ctrl.granted)
+ -> Interrupt results in schedule and grant revocation
+ rseq_slice_yield();
+
+So there is no point in pretending that this might be solved by an atomic
+operation.
+
+If the thread issues a syscall other than rseq_slice_yield(2) within the
+granted timeslice extension, the grant is also revoked and the CPU is
+relinquished immediately when entering the kernel. This is required as
+syscalls might consume arbitrary CPU time until they reach a scheduling
+point when the preemption model is either NONE or VOLUNTARY and therefore
+might exceed the grant by far.
+
+The preferred solution for user space is to use rseq_slice_yield(2) which
+is side effect free. The support for arbitrary syscalls is required to
+support onion layer architectured applications, where the code handling the
+critical section and requesting the time slice extension has no control
+over the code within the critical section.
+
+The kernel enforces flag consistency and terminates the thread with SIGSEGV
+if it detects a violation.