[haiku-bugs] Re: [Haiku] #8007: [app_server] fully unresponsive when resizing window of big textfile

  • From: "bonefish" <trac@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 23:58:28 -0000

#8007: [app_server] fully unresponsive when resizing window of big textfile
-----------------------------+----------------------------
   Reporter:  ttcoder        |      Owner:  axeld
       Type:  bug            |     Status:  new
   Priority:  normal         |  Milestone:  R1
  Component:  System/Kernel  |    Version:  R1/Development
 Resolution:                 |   Keywords:
 Blocked By:                 |   Blocking:  7882, 8136
Has a Patch:  1              |   Platform:  All
-----------------------------+----------------------------

Comment (by bonefish):

 Replying to [comment:87 jua]:
 > * Was surprised to find that just moving the mouse cursor causes
 torrents of calls to `set_port_owner()`, constantly changing the ownership
 of a port back and forth between registrar and whatever application is
 responsible for the area below the mouse pointer. I so far know only
 little about app_server/registrar internals, so I just assume that this
 ownership-pingpong is intentional and not a bug?

 That is due to how synchronous messaging is implemented (cf. the
 `BMessage` implementation). A temporary reply port is transferred to the
 target team before sending the message. This way, if the target team dies
 or sending the reply fails for some reason, the reply port is deleted and
 the thread waiting for the reply on that port wakes up. After retrieving
 the reply the port is reclaimed. So for a successful synchronous message
 exchange one sees two `set_port_owner()`s, besides the less problematic
 two `write_port()`s, two `read_port()`s, and two `get_port_info()`s.

 TBH, I don't find this strategy particularly elegant and while it works
 ATM, it will fail once we go multi-user and restrict port operations as
 part of the security concept. So at some point we'll have to extend the
 API (or use a completely new mechanism).

 It's probably a good idea to have a look what kind of messages the
 registrar is sending and whether it would be possible to avoid synchronous
 messaging in this case.

 > Anyway, `set_port_owner()` is not as lightweight as the function name
 makes it seem, it has to lookup a team ID, lookup a port and then
 atomically move the port from one list to another... and all that
 protected by a single mutex (and in the RW-lock-branch version it always
 acquired the lock for writing)
 >
 > * So another way to handle the team-port-list was needed. Two solutions
 came to mind: a) a separate lock per team as part of the team data
 structure or b) lock striping. I've gone with b) for now and it works well
 enough. Instead of a single mutex guarding all team-port-lists there is
 now an array of 8 mutexes. When code wants to access the list of team `x`
 it has to lock mutex number `(x % 8)`. The choice of '8' is somewhat
 arbitrary, maybe 16 would be better, or maybe not... guess I need to
 benchmark there.

 More is better. :-) Mutexes are really cheap, no need to be skimpy.
 Alternatively it might be possible to use the the `Team` lock (needs
 checking) or even introduce a new per-`Team` mutex for ports (and maybe
 other resources).

 > * I've also implemented the ports-by-name hash and using that in the RW-
 lock version for `find_port()` lookups. Doesn't influence the freezing
 though because `find_port()` is rarely called (at least in my current test
 cases). The remaining suggestion about the locking order is still to be
 tried out.

 I listed the locking order change first (before switching to a R/W lock),
 since I think that is a big deal. After that change there should be very
 little work be done while the global lock is being held -- most
 importantly no other locking! -- so it should be a lot less likely that a
 thread is preempted while holding the lock. So with that change alone I'd
 expect the lock contention to drop dramatically.

--
Ticket URL: <http://dev.haiku-os.org/ticket/8007#comment:88>
Haiku <http://dev.haiku-os.org>
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