linux/Documentation
David Howells 952efe7b78 FS-Cache: Add and document asynchronous operation handling
Add and document asynchronous operation handling for use by FS-Cache's data
storage and retrieval routines.

The following documentation is added to:

	Documentation/filesystems/caching/operations.txt

		       ================================
		       ASYNCHRONOUS OPERATIONS HANDLING
		       ================================

========
OVERVIEW
========

FS-Cache has an asynchronous operations handling facility that it uses for its
data storage and retrieval routines.  Its operations are represented by
fscache_operation structs, though these are usually embedded into some other
structure.

This facility is available to and expected to be be used by the cache backends,
and FS-Cache will create operations and pass them off to the appropriate cache
backend for completion.

To make use of this facility, <linux/fscache-cache.h> should be #included.

===============================
OPERATION RECORD INITIALISATION
===============================

An operation is recorded in an fscache_operation struct:

	struct fscache_operation {
		union {
			struct work_struct fast_work;
			struct slow_work slow_work;
		};
		unsigned long		flags;
		fscache_operation_processor_t processor;
		...
	};

Someone wanting to issue an operation should allocate something with this
struct embedded in it.  They should initialise it by calling:

	void fscache_operation_init(struct fscache_operation *op,
				    fscache_operation_release_t release);

with the operation to be initialised and the release function to use.

The op->flags parameter should be set to indicate the CPU time provision and
the exclusivity (see the Parameters section).

The op->fast_work, op->slow_work and op->processor flags should be set as
appropriate for the CPU time provision (see the Parameters section).

FSCACHE_OP_WAITING may be set in op->flags prior to each submission of the
operation and waited for afterwards.

==========
PARAMETERS
==========

There are a number of parameters that can be set in the operation record's flag
parameter.  There are three options for the provision of CPU time in these
operations:

 (1) The operation may be done synchronously (FSCACHE_OP_MYTHREAD).  A thread
     may decide it wants to handle an operation itself without deferring it to
     another thread.

     This is, for example, used in read operations for calling readpages() on
     the backing filesystem in CacheFiles.  Although readpages() does an
     asynchronous data fetch, the determination of whether pages exist is done
     synchronously - and the netfs does not proceed until this has been
     determined.

     If this option is to be used, FSCACHE_OP_WAITING must be set in op->flags
     before submitting the operation, and the operating thread must wait for it
     to be cleared before proceeding:

		wait_on_bit(&op->flags, FSCACHE_OP_WAITING,
			    fscache_wait_bit, TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE);

 (2) The operation may be fast asynchronous (FSCACHE_OP_FAST), in which case it
     will be given to keventd to process.  Such an operation is not permitted
     to sleep on I/O.

     This is, for example, used by CacheFiles to copy data from a backing fs
     page to a netfs page after the backing fs has read the page in.

     If this option is used, op->fast_work and op->processor must be
     initialised before submitting the operation:

		INIT_WORK(&op->fast_work, do_some_work);

 (3) The operation may be slow asynchronous (FSCACHE_OP_SLOW), in which case it
     will be given to the slow work facility to process.  Such an operation is
     permitted to sleep on I/O.

     This is, for example, used by FS-Cache to handle background writes of
     pages that have just been fetched from a remote server.

     If this option is used, op->slow_work and op->processor must be
     initialised before submitting the operation:

		fscache_operation_init_slow(op, processor)

Furthermore, operations may be one of two types:

 (1) Exclusive (FSCACHE_OP_EXCLUSIVE).  Operations of this type may not run in
     conjunction with any other operation on the object being operated upon.

     An example of this is the attribute change operation, in which the file
     being written to may need truncation.

 (2) Shareable.  Operations of this type may be running simultaneously.  It's
     up to the operation implementation to prevent interference between other
     operations running at the same time.

=========
PROCEDURE
=========

Operations are used through the following procedure:

 (1) The submitting thread must allocate the operation and initialise it
     itself.  Normally this would be part of a more specific structure with the
     generic op embedded within.

 (2) The submitting thread must then submit the operation for processing using
     one of the following two functions:

	int fscache_submit_op(struct fscache_object *object,
			      struct fscache_operation *op);

	int fscache_submit_exclusive_op(struct fscache_object *object,
					struct fscache_operation *op);

     The first function should be used to submit non-exclusive ops and the
     second to submit exclusive ones.  The caller must still set the
     FSCACHE_OP_EXCLUSIVE flag.

     If successful, both functions will assign the operation to the specified
     object and return 0.  -ENOBUFS will be returned if the object specified is
     permanently unavailable.

     The operation manager will defer operations on an object that is still
     undergoing lookup or creation.  The operation will also be deferred if an
     operation of conflicting exclusivity is in progress on the object.

     If the operation is asynchronous, the manager will retain a reference to
     it, so the caller should put their reference to it by passing it to:

	void fscache_put_operation(struct fscache_operation *op);

 (3) If the submitting thread wants to do the work itself, and has marked the
     operation with FSCACHE_OP_MYTHREAD, then it should monitor
     FSCACHE_OP_WAITING as described above and check the state of the object if
     necessary (the object might have died whilst the thread was waiting).

     When it has finished doing its processing, it should call
     fscache_put_operation() on it.

 (4) The operation holds an effective lock upon the object, preventing other
     exclusive ops conflicting until it is released.  The operation can be
     enqueued for further immediate asynchronous processing by adjusting the
     CPU time provisioning option if necessary, eg:

	op->flags &= ~FSCACHE_OP_TYPE;
	op->flags |= ~FSCACHE_OP_FAST;

     and calling:

	void fscache_enqueue_operation(struct fscache_operation *op)

     This can be used to allow other things to have use of the worker thread
     pools.

=====================
ASYNCHRONOUS CALLBACK
=====================

When used in asynchronous mode, the worker thread pool will invoke the
processor method with a pointer to the operation.  This should then get at the
container struct by using container_of():

	static void fscache_write_op(struct fscache_operation *_op)
	{
		struct fscache_storage *op =
			container_of(_op, struct fscache_storage, op);
	...
	}

The caller holds a reference on the operation, and will invoke
fscache_put_operation() when the processor function returns.  The processor
function is at liberty to call fscache_enqueue_operation() or to take extra
references.

Signed-off-by: David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com>
Acked-by: Steve Dickson <steved@redhat.com>
Acked-by: Trond Myklebust <Trond.Myklebust@netapp.com>
Acked-by: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>
Tested-by: Daire Byrne <Daire.Byrne@framestore.com>
2009-04-03 16:42:39 +01:00
..
ABI Merge branch 'for_linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tytso/ext4 2009-04-01 10:57:49 -07:00
accounting Documentation/accounting/getdelays.c: fix endless loop 2009-01-15 16:39:37 -08:00
acpi ACPI: update debug parameter documentation 2008-11-07 21:45:29 -05:00
aoe aoe: user can ask driver to forget previously detected devices 2008-02-08 09:22:31 -08:00
arm Merge branch 'next-s3c-pm' of git://aeryn.fluff.org.uk/bjdooks/linux into devel 2009-03-26 22:44:43 +00:00
auxdisplay .gitignore updates 2008-10-30 11:38:45 -07:00
blackfin Blackfin arch: Add document about bfin-gpio 2009-01-07 23:14:38 +08:00
block block: Repeated lines in switching-sched.txt 2009-03-26 11:01:28 +01:00
blockdev Create/use more directory structure in the Documentation/ tree. 2008-11-14 17:28:53 +00:00
cdrom doc/cdrom: Trvial documentation error, file not present 2008-10-10 08:22:44 +02:00
cgroups memcg: fix OOM killer under memcg 2009-04-02 19:04:55 -07:00
connector Documentation/connector/cn_test.c: don't use gfp_any() 2009-02-12 16:47:01 -08:00
console
cpu-freq [CPUFREQ] ondemand/conservative: sanitize sampling_rate restrictions 2009-02-24 22:47:31 -05:00
cpuidle cpuidle: Add Documentation 2008-02-14 00:16:13 -05:00
cris fix random typos 2008-10-16 11:21:30 -07:00
crypto async_tx, dmaengine: document channel allocation and api rework 2009-01-05 18:10:19 -07:00
development-process Fix a typo in the development process document. 2009-01-08 16:32:13 -07:00
device-mapper dm crypt: add documentation 2008-04-25 13:27:03 +01:00
DocBook documentation: ignore byproducts from latex 2009-04-02 19:04:53 -07:00
driver-model PATCH [1/2] Documentation/driver-model/device.txt: fix struct device_attribute 2009-02-22 09:27:15 -08:00
dvb V4L/DVB (11138): get_dvb_firmware: add support for downloading the cx2584x firmware for pvrusb2 2009-03-30 12:43:31 -03:00
early-userspace Documentation: Remove last references to BitKeeper. 2008-04-21 22:19:05 +00:00
fault-injection
fb fbdev: remove cyblafb driver 2009-04-01 08:59:33 -07:00
filesystems FS-Cache: Add and document asynchronous operation handling 2009-04-03 16:42:39 +01:00
firmware_class firmware_sample_driver.c: fix coding style 2008-04-21 22:23:30 +00:00
frv move frv docs one level up 2008-02-03 15:54:28 +02:00
hwmon hwmon: Add LTC4215 driver 2009-04-01 08:59:21 -07:00
i2c Move the pcf8591 driver to hwmon 2009-03-30 21:46:43 +02:00
i2o
ia64 .gitignore updates 2008-10-30 11:38:45 -07:00
ide ide: update warm-plug HOWTO 2009-01-06 17:21:00 +01:00
infiniband
input Merge commit 'v2.6.28-rc9' into next 2008-12-20 04:54:54 -05:00
ioctl V4L/DVB (10870a): remove all references for video_decoder.h 2009-03-30 12:43:15 -03:00
isdn Rationalise Randy's address a bit 2008-10-30 11:38:47 -07:00
ja_JP Sync patch for jp_JP/stable_kernel_rules.txt 2009-01-28 15:55:48 -08:00
kbuild kbuild: fix kbuild.txt typos 2009-01-14 21:42:51 +01:00
kdump powerpc: Support for relocatable kdump kernel 2008-10-22 15:01:22 +11:00
ko_KR HOWTO: update misspelling and word incorrected 2007-12-17 10:33:19 -08:00
laptops ACPI: thinkpad-acpi: bump up version to 0.22 2009-01-15 13:48:24 -05:00
lguest lguest: barrier me harder 2009-03-30 21:55:26 +10:30
m68k [SCSI] 53c7xx: fix removal fallout 2008-01-11 18:22:30 -06:00
make
mips ide: remove unused CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE_AU1XXX_SEQTS_PER_RQ 2009-01-14 19:19:03 +01:00
misc-devices drivers/misc/isl29003.c: driver for the ISL29003 ambient light sensor 2009-04-01 08:59:18 -07:00
mn10300 mn10300: add the MN10300/AM33 architecture to the kernel 2008-02-08 09:22:30 -08:00
mtd [MTD] [NAND] nand_ecc.c: rewrite for improved performance 2008-08-16 10:55:33 +01:00
namespaces The namespaces compatibility list doc 2007-11-29 09:24:53 -08:00
netlabel
networking Neterion: Driver help file 2009-04-02 00:33:39 -07:00
parisc
PCI PCI MSI: Add example request loop to MSI-HOWTO.txt 2009-03-20 11:35:04 -07:00
pcmcia .gitignore updates 2008-10-30 11:38:45 -07:00
power pm: document use of RTC in pm_trace 2008-10-16 11:21:29 -07:00
powerpc powerpc: add mmc-spi-slot bindings 2009-04-01 08:59:23 -07:00
prctl generic, x86: add tests for prctl PR_GET_TSC and PR_SET_TSC 2008-04-19 19:19:55 +02:00
RCU rcu: documentation 1Q09 update 2009-03-10 15:55:11 -07:00
s390 documentation: update s390 header file paths 2009-01-06 15:59:28 -08:00
scheduler sched, documentation: remove old O(1) scheduler document 2009-03-02 12:02:52 +01:00
scsi [SCSI] osd: Documentation for OSD library 2009-03-12 12:58:09 -05:00
serial Create/use more directory structure in the Documentation/ tree. 2008-11-14 17:28:53 +00:00
sh sh: Kill off remaining CONFIG_SH_KGDB bits. 2008-12-22 18:44:05 +09:00
sound Merge branch 'topic/oxygen' into for-linus 2009-03-24 00:36:17 +01:00
sparc sparc: Remove Documentation/sparc/sbus_drivers.txt 2008-08-29 02:15:25 -07:00
spi hwmon: (lm70) Code streamlining and cleanup 2009-01-07 16:37:34 +01:00
sysctl documentation: fix unix_dgram_qlen description 2009-04-02 19:04:53 -07:00
telephony remove mention of CONFIG_KMOD from documentation 2008-07-22 19:24:29 +10:00
thermal thermal: update the documentation 2008-04-29 02:49:47 -04:00
timers hpet: /dev/hpet - fixes and cleanup 2008-07-31 18:45:41 +02:00
tracers doc: mmiotrace.txt, buffer size control change 2009-02-15 20:05:13 +01:00
uml
usb USB: usbmon: Add binary API v1 2009-03-24 16:20:36 -07:00
video4linux V4L/DVB (11225): v4lgrab: fix compilation warnings 2009-03-30 12:43:41 -03:00
vm mm: remove try_to_munlock from vmscan 2009-01-06 15:59:03 -08:00
w1 w1: send status messages after command processing 2009-01-08 08:31:14 -08:00
watchdog .gitignore updates 2008-10-30 11:38:45 -07:00
wimax i2400m: documentation and instructions for usage 2009-01-07 10:00:18 -08:00
x86 Merge branch 'x86/doc' into x86/core 2009-03-05 21:49:44 +01:00
zh_CN Chinese: add translation of Codingstyle 2008-01-24 20:40:04 -08:00
00-INDEX Merge branch 'doc-subdirs' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/rdunlap/linux-docs 2008-11-15 11:51:03 -08:00
applying-patches.txt
atomic_ops.txt documentation: atomic_add_unless() doesn't imply mb() on failure 2008-02-23 17:52:36 -08:00
bad_memory.txt Document handling of bad memory 2008-12-03 16:09:53 -07:00
basic_profiling.txt
binfmt_misc.txt
braille-console.txt Basic braille screen reader support 2008-04-30 08:29:52 -07:00
bt8xxgpio.txt gpio: add bt8xxgpio driver 2008-07-25 10:53:30 -07:00
BUG-HUNTING Documentation: add hint about call traces & module symbols to BUG-HUNTING 2008-02-06 10:41:09 -08:00
c2port.txt Add c2 port support 2008-11-12 17:17:18 -08:00
cachetlb.txt
Changes Documentation/Changes: add required versions for new filesystems 2009-01-29 18:19:30 -08:00
CodingStyle fix emacs indenting howto filename expansion 2009-01-29 18:19:29 -08:00
cpu-hotplug.txt x86: use possible_cpus=NUM to extend the possible cpus allowed 2008-12-18 12:08:05 +01:00
cpu-load.txt
cputopology.txt cpumask: Use topology_core_cpumask()/topology_thread_cpumask() 2009-01-11 19:12:49 +01:00
credentials.txt CRED: Documentation 2008-11-14 10:39:26 +11:00
dcdbas.txt
debugging-modules.txt Documentation: Clarify when module debugging actually works. 2008-02-03 15:27:38 +02:00
debugging-via-ohci1394.txt firewire: fw-ohci: add option for remote debugging 2008-04-18 17:55:33 +02:00
dell_rbu.txt trivial: fix an -> a typos in documentation and comments 2009-01-06 11:28:07 +01:00
devices.txt [SCSI] major.h: char-major number for OSD device driver 2009-03-12 12:58:05 -05:00
DMA-API.txt dma-debug: Documentation update 2009-03-17 12:56:47 +01:00
DMA-attributes.txt powerpc/cell: Add DMA_ATTR_WEAK_ORDERING dma attribute and use in Cell IOMMU code 2008-07-22 10:39:36 +10:00
DMA-ISA-LPC.txt
DMA-mapping.txt documentation: update header file paths 2009-01-06 15:59:28 -08:00
dmaengine.txt async_tx, dmaengine: document channel allocation and api rework 2009-01-05 18:10:19 -07:00
dontdiff dontdiff: Fix asm exclude 2009-03-26 15:45:43 -07:00
dynamic-debug-howto.txt Dynamic debug: allow simple quoting of words 2009-03-24 16:38:27 -07:00
edac.txt Documentation cleanup: trivial misspelling, punctuation, and grammar corrections. 2008-07-26 12:00:06 -07:00
eisa.txt
email-clients.txt Documentation/email-clients.txt: add some info about gmail 2008-11-06 15:41:19 -08:00
exception.txt
feature-removal-schedule.txt gpio: gpio_{request,free}() now required (feature removal) 2009-04-02 19:04:51 -07:00
ftrace.txt ftrace: improve documentation 2008-11-28 13:15:14 +01:00
gpio.txt gpio: gpio_{request,free}() now required (feature removal) 2009-04-02 19:04:51 -07:00
highuid.txt [SPARC]: Remove SunOS and Solaris binary support. 2008-04-21 15:10:15 -07:00
HOWTO Remove Andrew Morton's http://www.zip.com.au/~akpm/ 2008-10-16 11:21:32 -07:00
hw_random.txt hw_random doc updates 2008-03-24 19:22:19 -07:00
ics932s401 ics932s401: new clock generator chip driver 2008-11-12 17:17:18 -08:00
initrd.txt use the newc archive format as requested by initramfs 2008-02-03 14:54:41 +02:00
Intel-IOMMU.txt Documentation cleanup: trivial misspelling, punctuation, and grammar corrections. 2008-07-26 12:00:06 -07:00
io_ordering.txt
io-mapping.txt io mapping: improve documentation 2008-11-03 18:21:44 +01:00
IO-mapping.txt Documentation: move DMA-mapping.txt to Doc/PCI/ 2009-01-29 18:19:29 -08:00
iostats.txt Documentation cleanup: trivial misspelling, punctuation, and grammar corrections. 2008-07-26 12:00:06 -07:00
IPMI.txt
IRQ-affinity.txt genirq: Expose default irq affinity mask (take 3) 2008-06-05 15:18:30 +02:00
IRQ.txt
irqflags-tracing.txt
isapnp.txt
java.txt
kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt kernel-doc: preferred ending marker and examples 2009-02-11 14:25:36 -08:00
kernel-docs.txt doc: update to URL and status of kernel-docs.txt entry 2008-06-06 11:29:10 -07:00
kernel-parameters.txt Merge branch 'linux-next' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jbarnes/pci-2.6 2009-04-01 09:47:12 -07:00
keys-request-key.txt keys: allow the callout data to be passed as a blob rather than a string 2008-04-29 08:06:16 -07:00
keys.txt Documentation cleanup: trivial misspelling, punctuation, and grammar corrections. 2008-07-26 12:00:06 -07:00
kobject.txt kobject: Make Documentation/kobject.txt a little more coherent. 2009-01-06 10:44:32 -08:00
kprobes.txt kprobes: support probing module __exit function 2009-01-06 15:59:21 -08:00
kref.txt docs: convert kref semaphore to mutex 2008-02-06 10:41:09 -08:00
ldm.txt
leds-class.txt Documentation cleanup: trivial misspelling, punctuation, and grammar corrections. 2008-07-26 12:00:06 -07:00
local_ops.txt documentation: local_ops fix on_each_cpu 2008-12-01 13:51:26 +01:00
lockdep-design.txt lockdep: get_user_chars() redo 2009-02-14 23:28:22 +01:00
lockstat.txt lockstat: contend with points 2008-10-20 15:43:10 +02:00
logo.svg linux.conf.au 2009: Tuz 2009-03-16 07:55:37 -07:00
logo.txt linux.conf.au 2009: Tuz 2009-03-16 07:55:37 -07:00
magic-number.txt documentation: update header file paths 2009-01-06 15:59:28 -08:00
Makefile docsrc: build Documentation/ sources 2008-08-12 16:07:30 -07:00
ManagementStyle docs: fix ManagementStyle book name 2008-10-30 11:38:46 -07:00
markers.txt markers: comment marker_synchronize_unregister() on data dependency 2008-11-28 16:47:41 +01:00
mca.txt The ps2esdi driver was marked as BROKEN more than two years ago due to being 2008-03-17 09:03:05 +01:00
md.txt md: Tidy up rdev_size_store a bit: 2008-07-21 14:22:18 +10:00
memory-barriers.txt read_barrier_depends arch fixlets 2008-05-14 10:05:18 -07:00
memory-hotplug.txt mm: show node to memory section relationship with symlinks in sysfs 2009-01-06 15:59:00 -08:00
memory.txt
mono.txt
mutex-design.txt
nmi_watchdog.txt x86, nmi-watchdog: update procfs nmi_watchdog file documentation v2 2008-10-30 19:07:04 +01:00
nommu-mmap.txt NOMMU: Make mmap allocation page trimming behaviour configurable. 2009-01-08 12:04:47 +00:00
numastat.txt
oops-tracing.txt Taint kernel after WARN_ON(condition) 2008-04-29 08:05:59 -07:00
parport-lowlevel.txt plip: fix parport_register_device name parameter 2007-11-26 19:39:01 -08:00
parport.txt
pi-futex.txt
pnp.txt Documentation: Replace obsolete "driverfs" with "sysfs". 2008-01-24 20:40:04 -08:00
preempt-locking.txt
printk-formats.txt DOC: add printk-formats.txt 2008-11-12 17:17:17 -08:00
prio_tree.txt
rbtree.txt
rfkill.txt rfkill: add master_switch_mode and EPO lock to rfkill and rfkill-input 2008-10-31 19:00:09 -04:00
robust-futex-ABI.txt
robust-futexes.txt
rt-mutex-design.txt
rt-mutex.txt
rtc.txt rtc: cleanup example code 2008-02-06 10:41:14 -08:00
SAK.txt Remove Andrew Morton's old email accounts 2008-10-16 11:21:32 -07:00
SecurityBugs
SELinux.txt selinux: add support for installing a dummy policy (v2) 2008-08-27 08:54:08 +10:00
serial-console.txt
sgi-ioc4.txt
sgi-visws.txt
slow-work.txt Document the slow work thread pool 2009-04-03 16:42:35 +01:00
SM501.txt
Smack.txt smack: Add a new '-CIPSO' option to the network address label configuration 2009-03-28 15:01:37 +11:00
sparse.txt kbuild: sparse needs CF not CHECKFLAGS 2008-07-25 22:12:39 +02:00
spinlocks.txt Add additional examples in Documentation/spinlocks.txt 2008-04-11 13:21:14 -06:00
stable_api_nonsense.txt
stable_kernel_rules.txt Update stable tree documentation 2008-10-29 15:03:49 -07:00
SubmitChecklist documentation: explain memory barriers 2008-10-16 11:21:32 -07:00
SubmittingDrivers Remove Andrew Morton's old email accounts 2008-10-16 11:21:32 -07:00
SubmittingPatches Merge branch 'docs' of git://git.lwn.net/linux-2.6 2008-10-16 12:18:16 -07:00
svga.txt
sysfs-rules.txt sysfs-rules.txt: reword API stability statement 2008-07-21 21:54:59 -07:00
sysrq.txt filesystem freeze: allow SysRq emergency thaw to thaw frozen filesystems 2009-04-01 08:59:17 -07:00
tracepoints.txt tracepoints: Documentation TPPROTO misspelt in Documentation/tracepoints.txt 2008-11-29 15:13:42 +01:00
unaligned-memory-access.txt introduce HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS Kconfig symbol 2008-07-25 10:53:27 -07:00
unicode.txt
unshare.txt
VGA-softcursor.txt
video-output.txt
volatile-considered-harmful.txt Documentation cleanup: trivial misspelling, punctuation, and grammar corrections. 2008-07-26 12:00:06 -07:00
voyager.txt
zorro.txt