[Mesa-dev] [RFC] Linux Graphics Next: Explicit fences everywhere and no BO fences - initial proposal

Christian König ckoenig.leichtzumerken at gmail.com
Tue Apr 27 15:13:54 UTC 2021


Uff good question. DMA-buf certainly supports that use case, but I have 
no idea if that is actually used somewhere.

Daniel do you know any case?

Christian.

Am 27.04.21 um 15:26 schrieb Marek Olšák:
> Ok. So that would only make the following use cases broken for now:
> - amd render -> external gpu
> - amd video encode -> network device
>
> What about the case when we get a buffer from an external device and 
> we're supposed to make it "busy" when we are using it, and the 
> external device wants to wait until we stop using it? Is it something 
> that can happen, thus turning "external -> amd" into "external <-> amd"?
>
> Marek
>
> On Tue., Apr. 27, 2021, 08:50 Christian König, 
> <ckoenig.leichtzumerken at gmail.com 
> <mailto:ckoenig.leichtzumerken at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Only amd -> external.
>
>     We can easily install something in an user queue which waits for a
>     dma_fence in the kernel.
>
>     But we can't easily wait for an user queue as dependency of a
>     dma_fence.
>
>     The good thing is we have this wait before signal case on Vulkan
>     timeline semaphores which have the same problem in the kernel.
>
>     The good news is I think we can relatively easily convert i915 and
>     older amdgpu device to something which is compatible with user fences.
>
>     So yes, getting that fixed case by case should work.
>
>     Christian
>
>     Am 27.04.21 um 14:46 schrieb Marek Olšák:
>>     I'll defer to Christian and Alex to decide whether dropping sync
>>     with non-amd devices (GPUs, cameras etc.) is acceptable.
>>
>>     Rewriting those drivers to this new sync model could be done on a
>>     case by case basis.
>>
>>     For now, would we only lose the "amd -> external" dependency? Or
>>     the "external -> amd" dependency too?
>>
>>     Marek
>>
>>     On Tue., Apr. 27, 2021, 08:15 Daniel Vetter, <daniel at ffwll.ch
>>     <mailto:daniel at ffwll.ch>> wrote:
>>
>>         On Tue, Apr 27, 2021 at 2:11 PM Marek Olšák <maraeo at gmail.com
>>         <mailto:maraeo at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>         > Ok. I'll interpret this as "yes, it will work, let's do it".
>>
>>         It works if all you care about is drm/amdgpu. I'm not sure
>>         that's a
>>         reasonable approach for upstream, but it definitely is an
>>         approach :-)
>>
>>         We've already gone somewhat through the pain of drm/amdgpu
>>         redefining
>>         how implicit sync works without sufficiently talking with other
>>         people, maybe we should avoid a repeat of this ...
>>         -Daniel
>>
>>         >
>>         > Marek
>>         >
>>         > On Tue., Apr. 27, 2021, 08:06 Christian König,
>>         <ckoenig.leichtzumerken at gmail.com
>>         <mailto:ckoenig.leichtzumerken at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>         >>
>>         >> Correct, we wouldn't have synchronization between device
>>         with and without user queues any more.
>>         >>
>>         >> That could only be a problem for A+I Laptops.
>>         >>
>>         >> Memory management will just work with preemption fences
>>         which pause the user queues of a process before evicting
>>         something. That will be a dma_fence, but also a well known
>>         approach.
>>         >>
>>         >> Christian.
>>         >>
>>         >> Am 27.04.21 um 13:49 schrieb Marek Olšák:
>>         >>
>>         >> If we don't use future fences for DMA fences at all, e.g.
>>         we don't use them for memory management, it can work, right?
>>         Memory management can suspend user queues anytime. It doesn't
>>         need to use DMA fences. There might be something that I'm
>>         missing here.
>>         >>
>>         >> What would we lose without DMA fences? Just inter-device
>>         synchronization? I think that might be acceptable.
>>         >>
>>         >> The only case when the kernel will wait on a future fence
>>         is before a page flip. Everything today already depends on
>>         userspace not hanging the gpu, which makes everything a
>>         future fence.
>>         >>
>>         >> Marek
>>         >>
>>         >> On Tue., Apr. 27, 2021, 04:02 Daniel Vetter,
>>         <daniel at ffwll.ch <mailto:daniel at ffwll.ch>> wrote:
>>         >>>
>>         >>> On Mon, Apr 26, 2021 at 04:59:28PM -0400, Marek Olšák wrote:
>>         >>> > Thanks everybody. The initial proposal is dead. Here
>>         are some thoughts on
>>         >>> > how to do it differently.
>>         >>> >
>>         >>> > I think we can have direct command submission from
>>         userspace via
>>         >>> > memory-mapped queues ("user queues") without changing
>>         window systems.
>>         >>> >
>>         >>> > The memory management doesn't have to use GPU page
>>         faults like HMM.
>>         >>> > Instead, it can wait for user queues of a specific
>>         process to go idle and
>>         >>> > then unmap the queues, so that userspace can't submit
>>         anything. Buffer
>>         >>> > evictions, pinning, etc. can be executed when all
>>         queues are unmapped
>>         >>> > (suspended). Thus, no BO fences and page faults are needed.
>>         >>> >
>>         >>> > Inter-process synchronization can use timeline
>>         semaphores. Userspace will
>>         >>> > query the wait and signal value for a shared buffer
>>         from the kernel. The
>>         >>> > kernel will keep a history of those queries to know
>>         which process is
>>         >>> > responsible for signalling which buffer. There is only
>>         the wait-timeout
>>         >>> > issue and how to identify the culprit. One of the
>>         solutions is to have the
>>         >>> > GPU send all GPU signal commands and all timed out wait
>>         commands via an
>>         >>> > interrupt to the kernel driver to monitor and validate
>>         userspace behavior.
>>         >>> > With that, it can be identified whether the culprit is
>>         the waiting process
>>         >>> > or the signalling process and which one. Invalid
>>         signal/wait parameters can
>>         >>> > also be detected. The kernel can force-signal only the
>>         semaphores that time
>>         >>> > out, and punish the processes which caused the timeout
>>         or used invalid
>>         >>> > signal/wait parameters.
>>         >>> >
>>         >>> > The question is whether this synchronization solution
>>         is robust enough for
>>         >>> > dma_fence and whatever the kernel and window systems need.
>>         >>>
>>         >>> The proper model here is the preempt-ctx dma_fence that
>>         amdkfd uses
>>         >>> (without page faults). That means dma_fence for
>>         synchronization is doa, at
>>         >>> least as-is, and we're back to figuring out the winsys
>>         problem.
>>         >>>
>>         >>> "We'll solve it with timeouts" is very tempting, but
>>         doesn't work. It's
>>         >>> akin to saying that we're solving deadlock issues in a
>>         locking design by
>>         >>> doing a global s/mutex_lock/mutex_lock_timeout/ in the
>>         kernel. Sure it
>>         >>> avoids having to reach the reset button, but that's about it.
>>         >>>
>>         >>> And the fundamental problem is that once you throw in
>>         userspace command
>>         >>> submission (and syncing, at least within the userspace
>>         driver, otherwise
>>         >>> there's kinda no point if you still need the kernel for
>>         cross-engine sync)
>>         >>> means you get deadlocks if you still use dma_fence for
>>         sync under
>>         >>> perfectly legit use-case. We've discussed that one ad
>>         nauseam last summer:
>>         >>>
>>         >>>
>>         https://dri.freedesktop.org/docs/drm/driver-api/dma-buf.html?highlight=dma_fence#indefinite-dma-fences
>>         <https://dri.freedesktop.org/docs/drm/driver-api/dma-buf.html?highlight=dma_fence#indefinite-dma-fences>
>>         >>>
>>         >>> See silly diagramm at the bottom.
>>         >>>
>>         >>> Now I think all isn't lost, because imo the first step to
>>         getting to this
>>         >>> brave new world is rebuilding the driver on top of
>>         userspace fences, and
>>         >>> with the adjusted cmd submit model. You probably don't
>>         want to use amdkfd,
>>         >>> but port that as a context flag or similar to render
>>         nodes for gl/vk. Of
>>         >>> course that means you can only use this mode in headless,
>>         without
>>         >>> glx/wayland winsys support, but it's a start.
>>         >>> -Daniel
>>         >>>
>>         >>> >
>>         >>> > Marek
>>         >>> >
>>         >>> > On Tue, Apr 20, 2021 at 4:34 PM Daniel Stone
>>         <daniel at fooishbar.org <mailto:daniel at fooishbar.org>> wrote:
>>         >>> >
>>         >>> > > Hi,
>>         >>> > >
>>         >>> > > On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 at 20:30, Daniel Vetter
>>         <daniel at ffwll.ch <mailto:daniel at ffwll.ch>> wrote:
>>         >>> > >
>>         >>> > >> The thing is, you can't do this in drm/scheduler. At
>>         least not without
>>         >>> > >> splitting up the dma_fence in the kernel into
>>         separate memory fences
>>         >>> > >> and sync fences
>>         >>> > >
>>         >>> > >
>>         >>> > > I'm starting to think this thread needs its own
>>         glossary ...
>>         >>> > >
>>         >>> > > I propose we use 'residency fence' for execution
>>         fences which enact
>>         >>> > > memory-residency operations, e.g. faulting in a page
>>         ultimately depending
>>         >>> > > on GPU work retiring.
>>         >>> > >
>>         >>> > > And 'value fence' for the pure-userspace model
>>         suggested by timeline
>>         >>> > > semaphores, i.e. fences being (*addr == val) rather
>>         than being able to look
>>         >>> > > at ctx seqno.
>>         >>> > >
>>         >>> > > Cheers,
>>         >>> > > Daniel
>>         >>> > > _______________________________________________
>>         >>> > > mesa-dev mailing list
>>         >>> > > mesa-dev at lists.freedesktop.org
>>         <mailto:mesa-dev at lists.freedesktop.org>
>>         >>> > >
>>         https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/mesa-dev
>>         <https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/mesa-dev>
>>         >>> > >
>>         >>>
>>         >>> --
>>         >>> Daniel Vetter
>>         >>> Software Engineer, Intel Corporation
>>         >>> http://blog.ffwll.ch <http://blog.ffwll.ch>
>>         >>
>>         >>
>>         >> _______________________________________________
>>         >> mesa-dev mailing list
>>         >> mesa-dev at lists.freedesktop.org
>>         <mailto:mesa-dev at lists.freedesktop.org>
>>         >> https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/mesa-dev
>>         <https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/mesa-dev>
>>         >>
>>         >>
>>
>>
>>         -- 
>>         Daniel Vetter
>>         Software Engineer, Intel Corporation
>>         http://blog.ffwll.ch <http://blog.ffwll.ch>
>>
>

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