tree b2d1ac56e6c3c9a60946a180cd45d493fc60738a
parent fd3d664fef97cf01f8e28fe0b024ad52f3bbc1bc
author Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> 1228857253 -0800
committer Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> 1228924912 -0800

revert "percpu counter: clean up percpu_counter_sum_and_set()"

Revert

    commit 1f7c14c62ce63805f9574664a6c6de3633d4a354
    Author: Mingming Cao <cmm@us.ibm.com>
    Date:   Thu Oct 9 12:50:59 2008 -0400

        percpu counter: clean up percpu_counter_sum_and_set()

Before this patch we had the following:

percpu_counter_sum(): return the percpu_counter's value

percpu_counter_sum_and_set(): return the percpu_counter's value, copying
that value into the central value and zeroing the per-cpu counters before
returning.

After this patch, percpu_counter_sum_and_set() has gone, and
percpu_counter_sum() gets the old percpu_counter_sum_and_set()
functionality.

Problem is, as Eric points out, the old percpu_counter_sum_and_set()
functionality was racy and wrong.  It zeroes out counters on "other" cpus,
without holding any locks which will prevent races agaist updates from
those other CPUS.

This patch reverts 1f7c14c62ce63805f9574664a6c6de3633d4a354.  This means
that percpu_counter_sum_and_set() still has the race, but
percpu_counter_sum() does not.

Note that this is not a simple revert - ext4 has since started using
percpu_counter_sum() for its dirty_blocks counter as well.

Note that this revert patch changes percpu_counter_sum() semantics.

Before the patch, a call to percpu_counter_sum() will bring the counter's
central counter mostly up-to-date, so a following percpu_counter_read()
will return a close value.

After this patch, a call to percpu_counter_sum() will leave the counter's
central accumulator unaltered, so a subsequent call to
percpu_counter_read() can now return a significantly inaccurate result.

If there is any code in the tree which was introduced after
e8ced39d5e8911c662d4d69a342b9d053eaaac4e was merged, and which depends
upon the new percpu_counter_sum() semantics, that code will break.

Reported-by: Eric Dumazet <dada1@cosmosbay.com>
Cc: "David S. Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@chello.nl>
Cc: Mingming Cao <cmm@us.ibm.com>
Cc: <linux-ext4@vger.kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>