People started using eventfd in a semaphore-like way where before they
were using pipes.

That is, counter-based resource access.  Where a "wait()" returns
immediately by decrementing the counter by one, if counter is greater than
zero.  Otherwise will wait.  And where a "post(count)" will add count to
the counter releasing the appropriate amount of waiters.  If eventfd the
"post" (write) part is fine, while the "wait" (read) does not dequeue 1,
but the whole counter value.

The problem with eventfd is that a read() on the fd returns and wipes the
whole counter, making the use of it as semaphore a little bit more
cumbersome.  You can do a read() followed by a write() of COUNTER-1, but
IMO it's pretty easy and cheap to make this work w/out extra steps.  This
patch introduces a new eventfd flag that tells eventfd to only dequeue 1
from the counter, allowing simple read/write to make it behave like a
semaphore.  Simple test here:

http://www.xmailserver.org/eventfd-sem.c

To be back-compatible with earlier kernels, userspace applications should
probe for the availability of this feature via

#ifdef EFD_SEMAPHORE
	fd = eventfd2 (CNT, EFD_SEMAPHORE);
	if (fd == -1 && errno == EINVAL)
		<fallback>
#else
		<fallback>
#endif
Signed-off-by: NDavide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
Cc: <linux-api@vger.kernel.org>
Tested-by: NMichael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
Cc: Ulrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: NAndrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: NLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

Signed-off-by: NHeiko Carstens <heiko.carstens@de.ibm.com>

This patch adds test that ensure the boundary conditions for the various
constants introduced in the previous patches is met.  No code is generated.

[akpm@linux-foundation.org: fix alpha]
Signed-off-by: NUlrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com>
Acked-by: NDavide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
Cc: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@googlemail.com>
Signed-off-by: NAndrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: NLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

This patch adds support for the EFD_NONBLOCK flag to eventfd2.  The
additional changes needed are minimal.

The following test must be adjusted for architectures other than x86 and
x86-64 and in case the syscall numbers changed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/syscall.h>

#ifndef __NR_eventfd2
# ifdef __x86_64__
#  define __NR_eventfd2 290
# elif defined __i386__
#  define __NR_eventfd2 328
# else
#  error "need __NR_eventfd2"
# endif
#endif

#define EFD_NONBLOCK O_NONBLOCK

int
main (void)
{
  int fd = syscall (__NR_eventfd2, 1, 0);
  if (fd == -1)
    {
      puts ("eventfd2(0) failed");
      return 1;
    }
  int fl = fcntl (fd, F_GETFL);
  if (fl == -1)
    {
      puts ("fcntl failed");
      return 1;
    }
  if (fl & O_NONBLOCK)
    {
      puts ("eventfd2(0) sets non-blocking mode");
      return 1;
    }
  close (fd);

  fd = syscall (__NR_eventfd2, 1, EFD_NONBLOCK);
  if (fd == -1)
    {
      puts ("eventfd2(EFD_NONBLOCK) failed");
      return 1;
    }
  fl = fcntl (fd, F_GETFL);
  if (fl == -1)
    {
      puts ("fcntl failed");
      return 1;
    }
  if ((fl & O_NONBLOCK) == 0)
    {
      puts ("eventfd2(EFD_NONBLOCK) does not set non-blocking mode");
      return 1;
    }
  close (fd);

  puts ("OK");

  return 0;
}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Signed-off-by: NUlrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com>
Acked-by: NDavide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
Cc: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@googlemail.com>
Signed-off-by: NAndrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: NLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

This patch adds the new eventfd2 syscall.  It extends the old eventfd
syscall by one parameter which is meant to hold a flag value.  In this
patch the only flag support is EFD_CLOEXEC which causes the close-on-exec
flag for the returned file descriptor to be set.

A new name EFD_CLOEXEC is introduced which in this implementation must
have the same value as O_CLOEXEC.

The following test must be adjusted for architectures other than x86 and
x86-64 and in case the syscall numbers changed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/syscall.h>

#ifndef __NR_eventfd2
# ifdef __x86_64__
#  define __NR_eventfd2 290
# elif defined __i386__
#  define __NR_eventfd2 328
# else
#  error "need __NR_eventfd2"
# endif
#endif

#define EFD_CLOEXEC O_CLOEXEC

int
main (void)
{
  int fd = syscall (__NR_eventfd2, 1, 0);
  if (fd == -1)
    {
      puts ("eventfd2(0) failed");
      return 1;
    }
  int coe = fcntl (fd, F_GETFD);
  if (coe == -1)
    {
      puts ("fcntl failed");
      return 1;
    }
  if (coe & FD_CLOEXEC)
    {
      puts ("eventfd2(0) sets close-on-exec flag");
      return 1;
    }
  close (fd);

  fd = syscall (__NR_eventfd2, 1, EFD_CLOEXEC);
  if (fd == -1)
    {
      puts ("eventfd2(EFD_CLOEXEC) failed");
      return 1;
    }
  coe = fcntl (fd, F_GETFD);
  if (coe == -1)
    {
      puts ("fcntl failed");
      return 1;
    }
  if ((coe & FD_CLOEXEC) == 0)
    {
      puts ("eventfd2(EFD_CLOEXEC) does not set close-on-exec flag");
      return 1;
    }
  close (fd);

  puts ("OK");

  return 0;
}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[akpm@linux-foundation.org: add sys_ni stub]
Signed-off-by: NUlrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com>
Acked-by: NDavide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
Cc: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@googlemail.com>
Cc: <linux-arch@vger.kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: NAndrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: NLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

This patch just extends the anon_inode_getfd interface to take an additional
parameter with a flag value.  The flag value is passed on to
get_unused_fd_flags in anticipation for a use with the O_CLOEXEC flag.

No actual semantic changes here, the changed callers all pass 0 for now.

[akpm@linux-foundation.org: KVM fix]
Signed-off-by: NUlrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com>
Acked-by: NDavide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
Cc: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@googlemail.com>
Signed-off-by: NAndrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: NLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

a) none of the callers even looks at inode or file returned by anon_inode_getfd()
b) any caller that would try to look at those would be racy, since by the time
it returns we might have raced with close() from another thread and that
file would be pining for fjords.
Signed-off-by: NAl Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>

Every file should include the headers containing the prototypes for its global
functions (in this case sys_eventfd()).
Signed-off-by: NAdrian Bunk <bunk@kernel.org>
Cc: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
Signed-off-by: NAndrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: NLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

The eventfd was using the unlocked waitqueue operations, but it was
using a different lock, so poll_wait() would race with it.

This makes eventfd directly use the waitqueue lock.
Signed-off-by: NDavide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
Signed-off-by: NLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

This is a very simple and light file descriptor, that can be used as event
wait/dispatch by userspace (both wait and dispatch) and by the kernel
(dispatch only).  It can be used instead of pipe(2) in all cases where those
would simply be used to signal events.  Their kernel overhead is much lower
than pipes, and they do not consume two fds.  When used in the kernel, it can
offer an fd-bridge to enable, for example, functionalities like KAIO or
syslets/threadlets to signal to an fd the completion of certain operations.
But more in general, an eventfd can be used by the kernel to signal readiness,
in a POSIX poll/select way, of interfaces that would otherwise be incompatible
with it.  The API is:

int eventfd(unsigned int count);

The eventfd API accepts an initial "count" parameter, and returns an eventfd
fd.  It supports poll(2) (POLLIN, POLLOUT, POLLERR), read(2) and write(2).

The POLLIN flag is raised when the internal counter is greater than zero.

The POLLOUT flag is raised when at least a value of "1" can be written to the
internal counter.

The POLLERR flag is raised when an overflow in the counter value is detected.

The write(2) operation can never overflow the counter, since it blocks (unless
O_NONBLOCK is set, in which case -EAGAIN is returned).

But the eventfd_signal() function can do it, since it's supposed to not sleep
during its operation.

The read(2) function reads the __u64 counter value, and reset the internal
value to zero.  If the value read is equal to (__u64) -1, an overflow happened
on the internal counter (due to 2^64 eventfd_signal() posts that has never
been retired - unlickely, but possible).

The write(2) call writes an __u64 count value, and adds it to the current
counter.  The eventfd fd supports O_NONBLOCK also.

On the kernel side, we have:

struct file *eventfd_fget(int fd);
int eventfd_signal(struct file *file, unsigned int n);

The eventfd_fget() should be called to get a struct file* from an eventfd fd
(this is an fget() + check of f_op being an eventfd fops pointer).

The kernel can then call eventfd_signal() every time it wants to post an event
to userspace.  The eventfd_signal() function can be called from any context.
An eventfd() simple test and bench is available here:

http://www.xmailserver.org/eventfd-bench.c

This is the eventfd-based version of pipetest-4 (pipe(2) based):

http://www.xmailserver.org/pipetest-4.c

Not that performance matters much in the eventfd case, but eventfd-bench
shows almost as double as performance than pipetest-4.

[akpm@linux-foundation.org: fix i386 build]
[akpm@linux-foundation.org: add sys_eventfd to sys_ni.c]
Signed-off-by: NDavide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
Signed-off-by: NAndrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: NLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>