ALSA: seq: Use RCU for the client port list

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Each sequencer client keeps a list of its ports (ports_list_head)
protected by both an rwlock (ports_lock) and a mutex (ports_mutex).
The rwlock is taken read-side on the event delivery hot path:
snd_seq_port_use_ptr() walks the list to resolve a port on every
dispatched event, while the mutex serializes port creation/deletion.

Ports change rarely but delivery happens constantly, so this is the
another read-mostly case as the port subscriber list.  Convert the
port list traversal to RCU and drop the rwlock entirely; the existing
ports_mutex keeps serializing the writers.  The atomic delivery path
(snd_seq_port_use_ptr(), snd_seq_port_query_nearest()) now runs
lock-free under rcu_read_lock() instead of contending on the shared
rwlock.

The writers switch to list_add_tail_rcu()/list_del_rcu().
snd_seq_insert_port() now stores the port number and name before
publishing the node so RCU readers only ever observe a fully
initialized port.  One drawback is that snd_seq_delete_all_ports()
drops the O(1) splice trick and unlinks each port individually,
though: the splice repointed the last port's ->next away from the list
head, which would send a concurrent lockless reader off the end of the
list.

Unlike the subscriber objects, ports are not freed via kfree_rcu():
port_delete() must drain outstanding use_lock references (and run
private_free()) synchronously.  The rwlock previously guaranteed that
no reader could take a new use_lock reference once the port was
unlinked -- list_del under write_lock excluded snd_use_lock_use()
under read_lock.  list_del_rcu() offers no such exclusion, so a reader
still traversing the list can grab a reference after the unlink.
port_delete() therefore calls synchronize_rcu() after the port has
been unlinked and before snd_use_lock_sync(): once the grace period
elapses no new reference can appear, and the existing drain then frees
the port safely.

Dropping write_lock_irq() from the writers is safe: no writer runs in
atomic/IRQ context, and the sole atomic reader now uses RCU, which is
IRQ-safe.

Signed-off-by: Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260810133711.42483-3-tiwai@suse.de

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This commit is contained in:

Takashi Iwai 2026-08-10 15:37:03 +02:00

parent a9760db775

commit 4c252fbc06

3 changed files with 23 additions and 30 deletions

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1

sound/core/seq/seq_clientmgr.c

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1

sound/core/seq/seq_clientmgr.h

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51

sound/core/seq/seq_ports.c

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