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authorRichard Braun <rbraun@sceen.net>2017-10-14 23:45:04 +0200
committerRichard Braun <rbraun@sceen.net>2018-01-04 01:57:38 +0100
commit9437f135da9fab16180fc64cdd64e2a3bb3d5b7a (patch)
tree8cd3d9e769c2af24463d58e8ba416aae9de9ce7b /src/thread.h
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+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2017 Richard Braun.
+ * Copyright (c) 2017 Jerko Lenstra.
+ *
+ * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
+ * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
+ * to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
+ * the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
+ * and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
+ * Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+ *
+ * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
+ * all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+ *
+ * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+ * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+ * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+ * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
+ * FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
+ * DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+ *
+ *
+ * Thread module.
+ *
+ * This module provides threads of execution, which encapsulate sequential
+ * activities that may be preempted (stopped by the scheduler) so that other
+ * threads may run on the processor. This is what makes an operating system
+ * "time sharing".
+ *
+ * Threads are usually scheduled according to a scheduling policy. This
+ * module implements a very simple fixed-priority based scheduling policy,
+ * where the thread running is ideally always the thread with the highest
+ * priority. Because of priority inversions, this isn't always possible.
+ * A real-time operating system (RTOS) strives to achieve a behaviour
+ * as close as possible to this ideal.
+ *
+ * Threads may also be called tasks (e.g. in many small embedded RTOS), or
+ * lightweight processes (BSDs, Solaris). The word "process", usually refers
+ * to much more heavyweight resource containers on Unix, which include both
+ * threads and other resources such as an address space and a file descriptor
+ * table. Sometimes, the word "task" also refers to this (e.g. in Linux),
+ * so using the word "thread" is usually much less ambiguous.
+ *
+ * Almost all modern operating systems associate a stack with each thread.
+ * In the past, threads could explicitely save the state they would need to
+ * be restored (look up "continuations"). But since preemptive scheduling
+ * requires the ability to preempt a thread at almost any time, a generic
+ * way to save and restore the thread state is needed. The most common way
+ * is to store that state on the stack, save the stack pointer into the
+ * thread structure, and later do the reverse when the thread is dispatched
+ * again on the processor.
+ *
+ * Stack overflows in embedded systems are a major source of bugs. The stack
+ * of a thread needs to be large enough to store all the data required by the
+ * longest call chain possible and also the saved state of the thread if
+ * interrupted right at the end of that chain, something that is quite
+ * difficult to determine from static analysis. Some systems provide tools
+ * to detect such overflows by e.g. filling the stack with a pattern at
+ * creation time, and making sure the pattern hasn't changed near the end
+ * of the stack. On systems with virtual memory, guard pages can be used to
+ * achieve an even more reliable effect, although at greater cost.
+ *
+ * A major concept around (kernel) threads is preemption. Disabling preemption
+ * means that the current thread may not be preempted, i.e. it will keep
+ * running until preemption is reenabled. Therefore, it's not possible for a
+ * thread to passively wait for an event if preemption is disabled. Disabling
+ * preemption is one of the primary means to implement critical sections.
+ * Many embedded systems build critical sections by disabling interrupts,
+ * but this lack of decoupling means that interrupts may unnecessarily be
+ * disabled, which increases interrupt latency.
+ *
+ * In X1, interrupts must only be disabled when data is shared between a
+ * thread and an interrupt handler, as a means to prevent the interrupt
+ * handler from running while the thread is accessing the shared data.
+ * Disabling preemption is the preferred way to implement short, time-bounded
+ * critical sections. If the cost of the critical section is "too high"
+ * (something quite hard to evaluate and which rests entirely on the decision
+ * of the developer), mutexes are the recommended tool, since they keep
+ * preemption enabled during the critical section.
+ */
+
+#ifndef _THREAD_H
+#define _THREAD_H
+
+#include <stdbool.h>
+#include <stddef.h>
+
+/*
+ * The scheduling frequency is the rate at which the clock used for scheduling
+ * ticks. On each tick, the scheduler may mark the currently running thread to
+ * yield.
+ *
+ * This implementation uses periodic ticks, but if the underlying hardware
+ * supports reprogramming without losing track of time, a dynamic tick
+ * implementation could be used.
+ */
+#define THREAD_SCHED_FREQ 100
+
+/*
+ * Maximum size of thread names, including the null terminating character.
+ */
+#define THREAD_NAME_MAX_SIZE 16
+
+/*
+ * Minimum size of thread stacks.
+ */
+#define THREAD_STACK_MIN_SIZE 512
+
+/*
+ * Total number of thread priorities.
+ */
+#define THREAD_NR_PRIORITIES 20
+
+/*
+ * The lowest priority is used by the idle thread and can be used by very
+ * low priority (usually background) threads.
+ */
+#define THREAD_IDLE_PRIORITY 0
+
+/*
+ * Range of regular priorities.
+ *
+ * Lower values mean lower priorities.
+ */
+#define THREAD_MIN_PRIORITY 1
+#define THREAD_MAX_PRIORITY (THREAD_NR_PRIORITIES - 1)
+
+/*
+ * Type for thread functions.
+ */
+typedef void (*thread_fn_t)(void *arg);
+
+/*
+ * Opaque declaration.
+ *
+ * An opaque declaration allows the interface to prevent any direct access
+ * to the structure itself from external users. The price is that, without
+ * the definition, the compiler doesn't know the size of the structure,
+ * which prevents allocations from the stack and composition by embedding
+ * in other structures, and usually requires the interface to provide
+ * dynamic allocation.
+ */
+struct thread;
+
+/*
+ * Early initialization of the thread module.
+ *
+ * This function initializes a dummy thread context so that functions that
+ * require a thread context, such as thread_self(), can be used before the
+ * thread module is initialized.
+ */
+void thread_bootstrap(void);
+
+/*
+ * Initialize the thread module.
+ *
+ * On return, new threads may be created. They will only run once the scheduler
+ * is enabled.
+ */
+void thread_setup(void);
+
+/*
+ * Create a thread.
+ *
+ * The new thread runs the given function, along with the given argument,
+ * as soon as permitted by the scheduler.
+ *
+ * A pointer to the new thread is returned into *threadp, if the latter isn't
+ * NULL.
+ */
+int thread_create(struct thread **threadp, thread_fn_t fn, void *arg,
+ const char *name, size_t stack_size, unsigned int priority);
+
+/*
+ * Make the current thread terminate.
+ *
+ * For the sake of simplicity, this module doesn't provide "detached"
+ * threads, where the resources are automatically released on exit.
+ * This means that all threads must be joined to avoid resource leaks.
+ *
+ * This function doesn't return.
+ */
+void thread_exit(void) __attribute__((noreturn));
+
+/*
+ * Wait for a thread to terminate.
+ *
+ * When the given thread is joined, its resources are released.
+ */
+void thread_join(struct thread *thread);
+
+/*
+ * Return the current thread.
+ */
+struct thread * thread_self(void);
+
+/*
+ * Return the name of the given thread.
+ */
+const char * thread_name(const struct thread *thread);
+
+/*
+ * Yield the processor.
+ *
+ * The calling thread remains in the running state, and may keep running on
+ * the processor if the scheduler determines that it should continue.
+ */
+void thread_yield(void);
+
+/*
+ * Make the calling thread sleep until awaken.
+ *
+ * Preemption must be disabled exactly once before calling this function, and
+ * is used to reliably synchronize waiting for/triggering an event.
+ *
+ * Preemption is used to serialize access to the variables shared between
+ * the sleeping thread and the waking code, which may run from another thread
+ * (thread context) or from an interrupt handler (interrupt context).
+ * If serializing against an interrupt handler, the user must also disable
+ * interrupts.
+ *
+ * By disabling preemption, checking the predicate and sleeping is done
+ * atomically with respect to setting the predicate and waking up. Obviously,
+ * while sleeping, preemption is reenabled by this function, to allow another
+ * thread to set the predicate and wake up the sleeping thread, which is why
+ * the preemption level must be exactly one on entry.
+ *
+ * Note that this function may return for other reasons than the predicate
+ * becoming true. These wake-ups are called spurious wake-ups and may be
+ * caused by implementation details as well as manually waking up threads
+ * (e.g. with C/Unix signals such as SIGINT). This is why sleeping should
+ * always be enclosed in a loop, rechecking the predicate on each iteration.
+ *
+ * Here is an example of sleeping and waking up :
+ *
+ * static bool predicate;
+ * static struct thread *thread;
+ *
+ * void
+ * init(void)
+ * {
+ * predicate = false;
+ * thread_create(&thread, run, ...);
+ * }
+ *
+ * void
+ * run(void)
+ * {
+ * for (;;) {
+ * thread_preempt_disable(); Disable preemption exactly once.
+ *
+ * while (!predicate) { Checking the predicate and sleeping
+ * thread_sleep(); is atomic with respect to setting
+ * } the predicate and waking up.
+ *
+ * do_something();
+ *
+ * thread_preempt_enable();
+ * }
+ * }
+ *
+ * void
+ * wakeup(void)
+ * {
+ * assert(!thread_preempt_enabled()); Because preemption is disabled,
+ * predicate = true; setting the predicate and waking up
+ * thread_wakeup(thread); is atomic with respect to checking
+ * the predicate and sleeping.
+ * }
+ *
+ * This pattern is very close to the POSIX condition variable [1]. The
+ * differences are :
+ * - The mutex is replaced by preemption for serialization.
+ * - The condition variable isn't needed because the interface only allows
+ * waking up a single thread.
+ * - Cancellation is completely ignored.
+ *
+ * You may compare this example with the one in condvar.h for a clear view of
+ * the similarities.
+ *
+ * A mutex would have been difficult to use here since they rely this low
+ * level interface, leading to complicated dependency issues. In addition,
+ * this is a single processor / single run queue scheduler so using
+ * preemption, which is usually processor-local, is sufficient. Finally,
+ * it's also the cheapest way to build critical sections, which improves
+ * performance.
+ *
+ * [1] http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/pthread_cond_wait.html.
+ */
+void thread_sleep(void);
+
+/*
+ * Wake up the given thread.
+ *
+ * For reliable event processing, preemption should be disabled.
+ *
+ * This function may safely be called from interrupt context.
+ */
+void thread_wakeup(struct thread *thread);
+
+/*
+ * Preemption control functions.
+ *
+ * Note that enabling preemption actually increments the preemption level
+ * whereas disabling preemption decrements it, allowing preemption-based
+ * critical sections to nest. Preemption is enabled when the preemption
+ * level is 0.
+ */
+void thread_preempt_enable(void);
+void thread_preempt_disable(void);
+bool thread_preempt_enabled(void);
+
+/*
+ * Report a tick.
+ *
+ * This function must be called from interrupt context.
+ */
+void thread_report_tick(void);
+
+/*
+ * Enable the scheduler.
+ */
+void thread_enable_scheduler(void) __attribute__((noreturn));
+
+#endif /* _THREAD_H */