xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man9/xcall.9 (revision 7330f729ccf0bd976a06f95fad452fe774fc7fd1)
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30.Dd February 1, 2018
31.Dt XCALL 9
32.Os
33.Sh NAME
34.Nm xcall ,
35.Nm xc_broadcast ,
36.Nm xc_unicast ,
37.Nm xc_wait
38.Nd cross-call interface
39.Sh SYNOPSIS
40.In sys/xcall.h
41.Vt typedef void (*xcfunc_t)(void *, void *);
42.Ft uint64_t
43.Fn xc_broadcast "u_int flags" "xcfunc_t func" "void *arg1" "void *arg2"
44.Ft uint64_t
45.Fn xc_unicast "u_int flags" "xcfunc_t func" "void *arg1" "void *arg2" "struct cpu_info *ci"
46.Ft void
47.Fn xc_wait "uint64_t where"
48.Sh DESCRIPTION
49The machine-independent
50.Nm
51interface allows any CPU in the system to request that an arbitrary
52function be executed on any other CPU.
53.Pp
54Sometimes it is necessary to modify hardware state that is tied
55directly to individual CPUs
56.Po
57such as a CPU's local timer
58.Pc ,
59and these updates can not be done remotely by another CPU.
60The LWP requesting the update may be unable to guarantee that it
61will be running on the CPU where the update must occur, when the
62update occurs.
63.Pp
64Additionally, it is sometimes necessary to modify per-CPU software
65state from a remote CPU.
66Where these update operations are so rare or the access to the
67per-CPU data so frequent that the cost of using locking or atomic
68operations to provide coherency is prohibitive, another way must
69be found.
70.Pp
71Cross calls help to solve these types of problem.
72However, since this facility is heavyweight, it is expected that
73it will not be used often.
74.Pp
75.Nm
76provides a mechanism for making
77.Dq "low priority"
78cross calls.
79The function to be executed runs on the remote CPU within a thread
80context, and not from a software interrupt, so it can ensure that it is
81not interrupting other code running on the CPU, and so has exclusive
82access to the CPU.
83Keep in mind that unless disabled, it may cause a kernel preemption.
84.Pp
85.Nm
86also provides a mechanism for making
87.Dq "high priority"
88cross calls.
89The function to be executed runs on the remote CPU within a
90software interrupt context, possibly interrupting other lower-priority
91code running on the CPU.
92.Sh NOTES
93Functions being called should be relatively lightweight.
94They may block on locks, but carefully and minimally, to not interfere
95with other cross calls in the system.
96.Sh FUNCTIONS
97.Bl -tag -width Fn
98.It Fn xc_broadcast "flags" "func" "arg1" "arg2"
99Call
100.Pf (* Fa func\| ) Ns Fo ""
101.Fa "arg1"
102.Fa "arg2"
103.Fc
104on all CPUs in the system.
105Return a
106.Vt uint64_t
107.Dq ticket
108to
109.Fn xc_wait
110on for the cross-call to complete.
111.Fa flags
112should be
113.Dv XC_HIGHPRI
114or
115.Dv XC_HIGHPRI_IPL\| Ns Fn "" ipl
116for a "high priority" call, and 0 for a "low priority" call.
117.Dv XC_HIGHPRI
118uses an
119.Dv IPL_SOFTSERIAL
120software interrupt while
121.Dv XC_HIGHPRI_IPL
122uses a software interrupt with an IPL specified by
123.Fa ipl .
124.Fn xc_broadcast
125should not be called from interrupt context.
126.It Fn xc_unicast "flags" "func" "arg1" "arg2" "ci"
127Like
128.Fn xc_broadcast ,
129but call
130.Fa func
131on only the CPU indicated by
132.Fa ci .
133.Fn xc_unicast
134also returns a
135.Dq ticket .
136.It Fn xc_wait "where"
137Wait on the
138.Dq ticket
139returned by a prior
140.Fn xc_broadcast
141or
142.Fn xc_unicast
143for the corresponding cross-call to complete.
144.Fn xc_wait
145should be called from a thread context.
146.El
147.Sh CODE REFERENCES
148The
149.Nm
150interface is implemented within the file
151.Pa sys/kern/subr_xcall.c .
152.\" .Sh EXAMPLES
153.Sh SEE ALSO
154.Xr kpreempt 9 ,
155.Xr percpu 9 ,
156.Xr softint 9
157.Sh HISTORY
158The
159.Nm
160interface first appeared in
161.Nx 5.0 .
162.Sh AUTHORS
163.An Andrew Doran Aq Mt ad@NetBSD.org
164