libvirt/src/qemu/THREADS.txt

   QEMU Driver  Threading: The Rules
   =================================

This document describes how thread safety is ensured throughout
the QEMU driver. The criteria for this model are:

 - Objects must never be exclusively locked for any pro-longed time
 - Code which sleeps must be able to time out after suitable period
 - Must be safe against dispatch asynchronous events from monitor


Basic locking primitives
------------------------

There are a number of locks on various objects

  * struct qemud_driver: RWLock

    This is the top level lock on the entire driver. Every API call in
    the QEMU driver is blocked while this is held, though some internal
    callbacks may still run asynchronously. This lock must never be held
    for anything which sleeps/waits (ie monitor commands)

    When obtaining the driver lock, under *NO* circumstances must
    any lock be held on a virDomainObjPtr. This *WILL* result in
    deadlock.



  * virDomainObjPtr:  Mutex

    Will be locked after calling any of the virDomainFindBy{ID,Name,UUID}
    methods.

    Lock must be held when changing/reading any variable in the virDomainObjPtr

    Once the lock is held, you must *NOT* try to lock the driver. You must
    release all virDomainObjPtr locks before locking the driver, or deadlock
    *WILL* occurr.

    If the lock needs to be dropped & then re-acquired for a short period of
    time, the reference count must be incremented first using virDomainObjRef().
    If the reference count is incremented in this way, it is not neccessary
    to have the driver locked when re-acquiring the dropped locked, since the
    reference count prevents it being freed by another thread.

    This lock must not be held for anything which sleeps/waits (ie monitor
    commands).



  * qemuMonitorPrivatePtr: Job condition

    Since virDomainObjPtr lock must not be held during sleeps, the job condition
    provides additional protection for code making updates.

    Immediately after acquiring the virDomainObjPtr lock, any method which intends
    to update state, must acquire the job condition. The virDomainObjPtr lock
    is released while blocking on this condition variable. Once the job condition
    is acquired a method can safely release the virDomainObjPtr lock whenever it
    hits a piece of code which may sleep/wait, and re-acquire it after the sleep/
    wait.


  * qemuMonitorPtr:  Mutex

    Lock to be used when invoking any monitor command to ensure safety
    wrt any asynchronous events that may be dispatched from the monitor.
    It should be acquired before running a command.

    The job condition *MUST* be held before acquiring the monitor lock

    The virDomainObjPtr lock *MUST* be held before acquiring the monitor
    lock.

    The virDomainObjPtr lock *MUST* then be released when invoking the
    monitor command.

    The driver lock *MUST* be released when invoking the monitor commands.

    This ensures that the virDomainObjPtr & driver are both unlocked while
    sleeping/waiting for the monitor response.



Helper methods
--------------

To lock the driver

  qemuDriverLock()
    - Acquires the driver lock

  qemuDriverUnlock()
    - Releases the driver lock



To lock the virDomainObjPtr

  virDomainObjLock()
    - Acquires the virDomainObjPtr lock

  virDomainObjUnlock()
    - Releases the virDomainObjPtr lock



To acquire the job mutex

  qemuDomainObjBeginJob()           (if driver is unlocked)
    - Increments ref count on virDomainObjPtr
    - Wait qemuDomainObjPrivate condition 'jobActive != 0' using virDomainObjPtr mutex
    - Sets jobActive to 1

  qemuDomainObjBeginJobWithDriver() (if driver needs to be locked)
    - Unlocks driver
    - Increments ref count on virDomainObjPtr
    - Wait qemuDomainObjPrivate condition 'jobActive != 0' using virDomainObjPtr mutex
    - Sets jobActive to 1
    - Unlocks virDomainObjPtr
    - Locks driver
    - Locks virDomainObjPtr

   NB: this variant is required in order to comply with lock ordering rules
   for virDomainObjPtr vs driver


  qemuDomainObjEndJob()
    - Set jobActive to 0
    - Signal on qemuDomainObjPrivate condition
    - Decrements ref count on virDomainObjPtr



To acquire the QEMU monitor lock

  qemuDomainObjEnterMonitor()
    - Acquires the qemuMonitorObjPtr lock
    - Releases the virDomainObjPtr lock

  qemuDomainObjExitMonitor()
    - Acquires the virDomainObjPtr lock
    - Releases the qemuMonitorObjPtr lock

  NB: caller must take care to drop the driver lock if neccessary


To acquire the QEMU monitor lock with the driver lock held

  qemuDomainObjEnterMonitorWithDriver()
    - Acquires the qemuMonitorObjPtr lock
    - Releases the virDomainObjPtr lock
    - Releases the driver lock

  qemuDomainObjExitMonitorWithDriver()
    - Acquires the driver lock
    - Acquires the virDomainObjPtr lock
    - Releases the qemuMonitorObjPtr lock

  NB: caller must take care to drop the driver lock if neccessary


Design patterns
---------------


 * Accessing or updating something with just the driver

     qemuDriverLock(driver);

     ...do work...

     qemuDriverUnlock(driver);



 * Accessing something directly todo with a virDomainObjPtr

     virDomainObjPtr obj;

     qemuDriverLock(driver);
     obj = virDomainFindByUUID(driver->domains, dom->uuid);
     qemuDriverUnlock(driver);

     ...do work...

     virDomainObjUnlock(obj);



 * Accessing something directly todo with a virDomainObjPtr and driver

     virDomainObjPtr obj;

     qemuDriverLock(driver);
     obj = virDomainFindByUUID(driver->domains, dom->uuid);

     ...do work...

     virDomainObjUnlock(obj);
     qemuDriverUnlock(driver);



 * Updating something directly todo with a virDomainObjPtr

     virDomainObjPtr obj;

     qemuDriverLockRO(driver);
     obj = virDomainFindByUUID(driver->domains, dom->uuid);
     qemuDriverUnlock(driver);

     qemuDomainObjBeginJob(obj);

     ...do work...

     qemuDomainObjEndJob(obj);

     virDomainObjUnlock(obj);




 * Invoking a monitor command on a virDomainObjPtr


     virDomainObjPtr obj;
     qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv;

     qemuDriverLockRO(driver);
     obj = virDomainFindByUUID(driver->domains, dom->uuid);
     qemuDriverUnlock(driver);

     qemuDomainObjBeginJob(obj);

     ...do prep work...

     qemuDomainObjEnterMonitor(obj);
     qemuMonitorXXXX(priv->mon);
     qemuDomainObjExitMonitor(obj);

     ...do final work...

     qemuDomainObjEndJob(obj);
     virDomainObjUnlock(obj);




 * Invoking a monitor command on a virDomainObjPtr with driver locked too


     virDomainObjPtr obj;
     qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv;

     qemuDriverLock(driver);
     obj = virDomainFindByUUID(driver->domains, dom->uuid);

     qemuDomainObjBeginJobWithDriver(obj);

     ...do prep work...

     qemuDomainObjEnterMonitorWithDriver(driver, obj);
     qemuMonitorXXXX(priv->mon);
     qemuDomainObjExitMonitorWithDriver(driver, obj);

     ...do final work...

     qemuDomainObjEndJob(obj);
     virDomainObjUnlock(obj);
     qemuDriverUnlock(driver);



Summary
-------

  * Respect lock ordering rules: never lock driver if anything else is
    already locked

  * Don't hold locks in code which sleeps: unlock driver & virDomainObjPtr
    when using monitor