RFR: 8261023: Add comment why memory pretouch must be a store
Thomas Schatzl
tschatzl at openjdk.java.net
Wed Feb 3 09:51:52 UTC 2021
Hi all,
may I have reviews for this additional comment that explains why `os::pretouch_memory` needs to use a store and must not use a read which would be more convenient?
Basically on some (all?) OSes memory pages are only actually backed with physical memory on a store to that page. Before that a common "zero page" may be used to satisfy reads. This is not what is intended here.
A previous comment (that has been removed long ago) seems to have been a bit confused about the actual issue:
- // Note the use of a write here; originally we tried just a read, but
- // since the value read was unused, the optimizer removed the read.
- // If we ever have a concurrent touchahead thread, we'll want to use
- // a read, to avoid the potential of overwriting data (if a mutator
- // thread beats the touchahead thread to a page). There are various
- // ways of making sure this read is not optimized away: for example,
- // generating the code for a read procedure at runtime.
It indicates that the reason for using a store has been that the compiler would optimize away the reads (which begs the question why a `volatile` read has not been used).
Maybe these zero page optimizations came later than that original implementation though.
Testing: local compilation - it's adding a comment only, really.
Thanks,
Thomas
-------------
Commit messages:
- Initial commit
Changes: https://git.openjdk.java.net/jdk/pull/2373/files
Webrev: https://webrevs.openjdk.java.net/?repo=jdk&pr=2373&range=00
Issue: https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8261023
Stats: 4 lines in 1 file changed: 4 ins; 0 del; 0 mod
Patch: https://git.openjdk.java.net/jdk/pull/2373.diff
Fetch: git fetch https://git.openjdk.java.net/jdk pull/2373/head:pull/2373
PR: https://git.openjdk.java.net/jdk/pull/2373
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