clocksource: Retry clock read if long delays detected

When the clocksource watchdog marks a clock as unstable, this might be due
to that clock being unstable or it might be due to delays that happen to
occur between the reads of the two clocks.  Yes, interrupts are disabled
across those two reads, but there are no shortage of things that can delay
interrupts-disabled regions of code ranging from SMI handlers to vCPU
preemption.  It would be good to have some indication as to why the clock
was marked unstable.

Therefore, re-read the watchdog clock on either side of the read from the
clock under test.  If the watchdog clock shows an excessive time delta
between its pair of reads, the reads are retried.

The maximum number of retries is specified by a new kernel boot parameter
clocksource.max_cswd_read_retries, which defaults to three, that is, up to
four reads, one initial and up to three retries.  If more than one retry
was required, a message is printed on the console (the occasional single
retry is expected behavior, especially in guest OSes).  If the maximum
number of retries is exceeded, the clock under test will be marked
unstable.  However, the probability of this happening due to various sorts
of delays is quite small.  In addition, the reason (clock-read delays) for
the unstable marking will be apparent.
Reported-by: Chris Mason <clm@fb.com>
Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Acked-by: Feng Tang <feng.tang@intel.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20210527190124.440372-1-paulmck@kernel.org

Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt

@@ -581,6 +581,12 @@
 			loops can be debugged more effectively on production
 			systems.
 
+	clocksource.max_cswd_read_retries= [KNL]
+			Number of clocksource_watchdog() retries due to
+			external delays before the clock will be marked
+			unstable.  Defaults to three retries, that is,
+			four attempts to read the clock under test.
+
 	clearcpuid=BITNUM[,BITNUM...] [X86]
 			Disable CPUID feature X for the kernel. See
 			arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeatures.h for the valid bit

kernel/time/clocksource.c

@@ -124,6 +124,13 @@ static void __clocksource_change_rating(struct clocksource *cs, int rating);
 #define WATCHDOG_INTERVAL (HZ >> 1)
 #define WATCHDOG_THRESHOLD (NSEC_PER_SEC >> 4)
 
+/*
+ * Maximum permissible delay between two readouts of the watchdog
+ * clocksource surrounding a read of the clocksource being validated.
+ * This delay could be due to SMIs, NMIs, or to VCPU preemptions.
+ */
+#define WATCHDOG_MAX_SKEW (100 * NSEC_PER_USEC)
+
 static void clocksource_watchdog_work(struct work_struct *work)
 {
 	/*
@@ -184,12 +191,45 @@ void clocksource_mark_unstable(struct clocksource *cs)
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&watchdog_lock, flags);
 }
 
+static ulong max_cswd_read_retries = 3;
+module_param(max_cswd_read_retries, ulong, 0644);
+
+static bool cs_watchdog_read(struct clocksource *cs, u64 *csnow, u64 *wdnow)
+{
+	unsigned int nretries;
+	u64 wd_end, wd_delta;
+	int64_t wd_delay;
+
+	for (nretries = 0; nretries <= max_cswd_read_retries; nretries++) {
+		local_irq_disable();
+		*wdnow = watchdog->read(watchdog);
+		*csnow = cs->read(cs);
+		wd_end = watchdog->read(watchdog);
+		local_irq_enable();
+
+		wd_delta = clocksource_delta(wd_end, *wdnow, watchdog->mask);
+		wd_delay = clocksource_cyc2ns(wd_delta, watchdog->mult,
+					      watchdog->shift);
+		if (wd_delay <= WATCHDOG_MAX_SKEW) {
+			if (nretries > 1 || nretries >= max_cswd_read_retries) {
+				pr_warn("timekeeping watchdog on CPU%d: %s retried %d times before success\n",
+					smp_processor_id(), watchdog->name, nretries);
+			}
+			return true;
+		}
+	}
+
+	pr_warn("timekeeping watchdog on CPU%d: %s read-back delay of %lldns, attempt %d, marking unstable\n",
+		smp_processor_id(), watchdog->name, wd_delay, nretries);
+	return false;
+}
+
 static void clocksource_watchdog(struct timer_list *unused)
 {
-	struct clocksource *cs;
 	u64 csnow, wdnow, cslast, wdlast, delta;
-	int64_t wd_nsec, cs_nsec;
 	int next_cpu, reset_pending;
+	int64_t wd_nsec, cs_nsec;
+	struct clocksource *cs;
 
 	spin_lock(&watchdog_lock);
 	if (!watchdog_running)
@@ -206,10 +246,11 @@ static void clocksource_watchdog(struct timer_list *unused)
 			continue;
 		}
 
-		local_irq_disable();
-		csnow = cs->read(cs);
-		wdnow = watchdog->read(watchdog);
-		local_irq_enable();
+		if (!cs_watchdog_read(cs, &csnow, &wdnow)) {
+			/* Clock readout unreliable, so give it up. */
+			__clocksource_unstable(cs);
+			continue;
+		}
 
 		/* Clocksource initialized ? */
 		if (!(cs->flags & CLOCK_SOURCE_WATCHDOG) ||