cgroup: implement cgroup v2 thread support
This patch implements cgroup v2 thread support. The goal of the
thread mode is supporting hierarchical accounting and control at
thread granularity while staying inside the resource domain model
which allows coordination across different resource controllers and
handling of anonymous resource consumptions.
A cgroup is always created as a domain and can be made threaded by
writing to the "cgroup.type" file. When a cgroup becomes threaded, it
becomes a member of a threaded subtree which is anchored at the
closest ancestor which isn't threaded.
The threads of the processes which are in a threaded subtree can be
placed anywhere without being restricted by process granularity or
no-internal-process constraint. Note that the threads aren't allowed
to escape to a different threaded subtree. To be used inside a
threaded subtree, a controller should explicitly support threaded mode
and be able to handle internal competition in the way which is
appropriate for the resource.
The root of a threaded subtree, the nearest ancestor which isn't
threaded, is called the threaded domain and serves as the resource
domain for the whole subtree. This is the last cgroup where domain
controllers are operational and where all the domain-level resource
consumptions in the subtree are accounted. This allows threaded
controllers to operate at thread granularity when requested while
staying inside the scope of system-level resource distribution.
As the root cgroup is exempt from the no-internal-process constraint,
it can serve as both a threaded domain and a parent to normal cgroups,
so, unlike non-root cgroups, the root cgroup can have both domain and
threaded children.
Internally, in a threaded subtree, each css_set has its ->dom_cset
pointing to a matching css_set which belongs to the threaded domain.
This ensures that thread root level cgroup_subsys_state for all
threaded controllers are readily accessible for domain-level
operations.
This patch enables threaded mode for the pids and perf_events
controllers. Neither has to worry about domain-level resource
consumptions and it's enough to simply set the flag.
For more details on the interface and behavior of the thread mode,
please refer to the section 2-2-2 in Documentation/cgroup-v2.txt added
by this patch.
v5: - Dropped silly no-op ->dom_cgrp init from cgroup_create().
Spotted by Waiman.
- Documentation updated as suggested by Waiman.
- cgroup.type content slightly reformatted.
- Mark the debug controller threaded.
v4: - Updated to the general idea of marking specific cgroups
domain/threaded as suggested by PeterZ.
v3: - Dropped "join" and always make mixed children join the parent's
threaded subtree.
v2: - After discussions with Waiman, support for mixed thread mode is
added. This should address the issue that Peter pointed out
where any nesting should be avoided for thread subtrees while
coexisting with other domain cgroups.
- Enabling / disabling thread mode now piggy backs on the existing
control mask update mechanism.
- Bug fixes and cleanup.
Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
Cc: Waiman Long <longman@redhat.com>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
diff --git a/Documentation/cgroup-v2.txt b/Documentation/cgroup-v2.txt
index f01f831..cb9ea28 100644
--- a/Documentation/cgroup-v2.txt
+++ b/Documentation/cgroup-v2.txt
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@
1-2. What is cgroup?
2. Basic Operations
2-1. Mounting
- 2-2. Organizing Processes
+ 2-2. Organizing Processes and Threads
+ 2-2-1. Processes
+ 2-2-2. Threads
2-3. [Un]populated Notification
2-4. Controlling Controllers
2-4-1. Enabling and Disabling
@@ -167,8 +169,11 @@
Delegation section for details.
-Organizing Processes
---------------------
+Organizing Processes and Threads
+--------------------------------
+
+Processes
+~~~~~~~~~
Initially, only the root cgroup exists to which all processes belong.
A child cgroup can be created by creating a sub-directory::
@@ -219,6 +224,104 @@
0::/test-cgroup/test-cgroup-nested (deleted)
+Threads
+~~~~~~~
+
+cgroup v2 supports thread granularity for a subset of controllers to
+support use cases requiring hierarchical resource distribution across
+the threads of a group of processes. By default, all threads of a
+process belong to the same cgroup, which also serves as the resource
+domain to host resource consumptions which are not specific to a
+process or thread. The thread mode allows threads to be spread across
+a subtree while still maintaining the common resource domain for them.
+
+Controllers which support thread mode are called threaded controllers.
+The ones which don't are called domain controllers.
+
+Marking a cgroup threaded makes it join the resource domain of its
+parent as a threaded cgroup. The parent may be another threaded
+cgroup whose resource domain is further up in the hierarchy. The root
+of a threaded subtree, that is, the nearest ancestor which is not
+threaded, is called threaded domain or thread root interchangeably and
+serves as the resource domain for the entire subtree.
+
+Inside a threaded subtree, threads of a process can be put in
+different cgroups and are not subject to the no internal process
+constraint - threaded controllers can be enabled on non-leaf cgroups
+whether they have threads in them or not.
+
+As the threaded domain cgroup hosts all the domain resource
+consumptions of the subtree, it is considered to have internal
+resource consumptions whether there are processes in it or not and
+can't have populated child cgroups which aren't threaded. Because the
+root cgroup is not subject to no internal process constraint, it can
+serve both as a threaded domain and a parent to domain cgroups.
+
+The current operation mode or type of the cgroup is shown in the
+"cgroup.type" file which indicates whether the cgroup is a normal
+domain, a domain which is serving as the domain of a threaded subtree,
+or a threaded cgroup.
+
+On creation, a cgroup is always a domain cgroup and can be made
+threaded by writing "threaded" to the "cgroup.type" file. The
+operation is single direction::
+
+ # echo threaded > cgroup.type
+
+Once threaded, the cgroup can't be made a domain again. To enable the
+thread mode, the following conditions must be met.
+
+- As the cgroup will join the parent's resource domain. The parent
+ must either be a valid (threaded) domain or a threaded cgroup.
+
+- The cgroup must be empty. No enabled controllers, child cgroups or
+ processes.
+
+Topology-wise, a cgroup can be in an invalid state. Please consider
+the following toplogy::
+
+ A (threaded domain) - B (threaded) - C (domain, just created)
+
+C is created as a domain but isn't connected to a parent which can
+host child domains. C can't be used until it is turned into a
+threaded cgroup. "cgroup.type" file will report "domain (invalid)" in
+these cases. Operations which fail due to invalid topology use
+EOPNOTSUPP as the errno.
+
+A domain cgroup is turned into a threaded domain when one of its child
+cgroup becomes threaded or threaded controllers are enabled in the
+"cgroup.subtree_control" file while there are processes in the cgroup.
+A threaded domain reverts to a normal domain when the conditions
+clear.
+
+When read, "cgroup.threads" contains the list of the thread IDs of all
+threads in the cgroup. Except that the operations are per-thread
+instead of per-process, "cgroup.threads" has the same format and
+behaves the same way as "cgroup.procs". While "cgroup.threads" can be
+written to in any cgroup, as it can only move threads inside the same
+threaded domain, its operations are confined inside each threaded
+subtree.
+
+The threaded domain cgroup serves as the resource domain for the whole
+subtree, and, while the threads can be scattered across the subtree,
+all the processes are considered to be in the threaded domain cgroup.
+"cgroup.procs" in a threaded domain cgroup contains the PIDs of all
+processes in the subtree and is not readable in the subtree proper.
+However, "cgroup.procs" can be written to from anywhere in the subtree
+to migrate all threads of the matching process to the cgroup.
+
+Only threaded controllers can be enabled in a threaded subtree. When
+a threaded controller is enabled inside a threaded subtree, it only
+accounts for and controls resource consumptions associated with the
+threads in the cgroup and its descendants. All consumptions which
+aren't tied to a specific thread belong to the threaded domain cgroup.
+
+Because a threaded subtree is exempt from no internal process
+constraint, a threaded controller must be able to handle competition
+between threads in a non-leaf cgroup and its child cgroups. Each
+threaded controller defines how such competitions are handled.
+
+
[Un]populated Notification
--------------------------
@@ -302,15 +405,15 @@
No Internal Process Constraint
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Non-root cgroups can only distribute resources to their children when
-they don't have any processes of their own. In other words, only
-cgroups which don't contain any processes can have controllers enabled
-in their "cgroup.subtree_control" files.
+Non-root cgroups can distribute domain resources to their children
+only when they don't have any processes of their own. In other words,
+only domain cgroups which don't contain any processes can have domain
+controllers enabled in their "cgroup.subtree_control" files.
-This guarantees that, when a controller is looking at the part of the
-hierarchy which has it enabled, processes are always only on the
-leaves. This rules out situations where child cgroups compete against
-internal processes of the parent.
+This guarantees that, when a domain controller is looking at the part
+of the hierarchy which has it enabled, processes are always only on
+the leaves. This rules out situations where child cgroups compete
+against internal processes of the parent.
The root cgroup is exempt from this restriction. Root contains
processes and anonymous resource consumption which can't be associated
@@ -334,10 +437,10 @@
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A cgroup can be delegated in two ways. First, to a less privileged
-user by granting write access of the directory and its "cgroup.procs"
-and "cgroup.subtree_control" files to the user. Second, if the
-"nsdelegate" mount option is set, automatically to a cgroup namespace
-on namespace creation.
+user by granting write access of the directory and its "cgroup.procs",
+"cgroup.threads" and "cgroup.subtree_control" files to the user.
+Second, if the "nsdelegate" mount option is set, automatically to a
+cgroup namespace on namespace creation.
Because the resource control interface files in a given directory
control the distribution of the parent's resources, the delegatee
@@ -644,6 +747,29 @@
All cgroup core files are prefixed with "cgroup."
+ cgroup.type
+
+ A read-write single value file which exists on non-root
+ cgroups.
+
+ When read, it indicates the current type of the cgroup, which
+ can be one of the following values.
+
+ - "domain" : A normal valid domain cgroup.
+
+ - "domain threaded" : A threaded domain cgroup which is
+ serving as the root of a threaded subtree.
+
+ - "domain invalid" : A cgroup which is in an invalid state.
+ It can't be populated or have controllers enabled. It may
+ be allowed to become a threaded cgroup.
+
+ - "threaded" : A threaded cgroup which is a member of a
+ threaded subtree.
+
+ A cgroup can be turned into a threaded cgroup by writing
+ "threaded" to this file.
+
cgroup.procs
A read-write new-line separated values file which exists on
all cgroups.
@@ -666,6 +792,35 @@
When delegating a sub-hierarchy, write access to this file
should be granted along with the containing directory.
+ In a threaded cgroup, reading this file fails with EOPNOTSUPP
+ as all the processes belong to the thread root. Writing is
+ supported and moves every thread of the process to the cgroup.
+
+ cgroup.threads
+ A read-write new-line separated values file which exists on
+ all cgroups.
+
+ When read, it lists the TIDs of all threads which belong to
+ the cgroup one-per-line. The TIDs are not ordered and the
+ same TID may show up more than once if the thread got moved to
+ another cgroup and then back or the TID got recycled while
+ reading.
+
+ A TID can be written to migrate the thread associated with the
+ TID to the cgroup. The writer should match all of the
+ following conditions.
+
+ - It must have write access to the "cgroup.threads" file.
+
+ - The cgroup that the thread is currently in must be in the
+ same resource domain as the destination cgroup.
+
+ - It must have write access to the "cgroup.procs" file of the
+ common ancestor of the source and destination cgroups.
+
+ When delegating a sub-hierarchy, write access to this file
+ should be granted along with the containing directory.
+
cgroup.controllers
A read-only space separated values file which exists on all
cgroups.