New subject: [PATCH v4 00/30] NT synchronization primitive driver

April 17, 2024

      On Wednesday, 17 April 2024 05:01:32 CDT Peter Zijlstra wrote:
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NT synchronization primitive driver
===================================
This page documents the user-space API for the ntsync driver.
ntsync is a support driver for emulation of NT synchronization
primitives by user-space NT emulators. It exists because implementation
in user-space, using existing tools, cannot match Windows performance
while offering accurate semantics. It is implemented entirely in
software, and does not drive any hardware device.
This interface is meant as a compatibility tool only, and should not
be used for general synchronization. Instead use generic, versatile
interfaces such as futex(2) and poll(2).
Synchronization primitives
==========================
The ntsync driver exposes three types of synchronization primitives:
semaphores, mutexes, and events.
A semaphore holds a single volatile 32-bit counter, and a static 32-bit
integer denoting the maximum value. It is considered signaled when the
counter is nonzero. The counter is decremented by one when a wait is
satisfied. Both the initial and maximum count are established when the
semaphore is created.
A mutex holds a volatile 32-bit recursion count, and a volatile 32-bit
identifier denoting its owner. A mutex is considered signaled when its
owner is zero (indicating that it is not owned). The recursion count is
incremented when a wait is satisfied, and ownership is set to the given
identifier.
'signaled' is used twice now but not defined. For both Semaphore and
Mutex this seems to indicate uncontended? Edit: seems to be needs-wakeup
more than uncontended.
Uncontended, yes, or needs-wakeup (I'm not sure what the difference
between the two is?)
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A mutex also holds an internal flag denoting whether its previous owner
has died; such a mutex is said to be abandoned. Owner death is not
tracked automatically based on thread death, but rather must be
communicated using NTSYNC_IOC_MUTEX_KILL. An abandoned mutex is
inherently considered unowned.
Except for the "unowned" semantics of zero, the actual value of the
owner identifier is not interpreted by the ntsync driver at all. The
intended use is to store a thread identifier; however, the ntsync
driver does not actually validate that a calling thread provides
consistent or unique identifiers.
Why not verify it? Seems simple enough to put in a TID check, esp. if NT
mandates the same.
I mostly figured it'd be simplest to leave the driver completely
agnostic, but I don't think there's any reason we can't use the real
TID for most calls.
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An event holds a volatile boolean state denoting whether it is signaled
or not. There are two types of events, auto-reset and manual-reset. An
auto-reset event is designaled when a wait is satisfied; a manual-reset
event is not. The event type is specified when the event is created.
But what is an event? I'm familiar with semaphores and mutexes, but less
so with events.
It's what I'm trying to define there, a single bit of state that's
either contended or not. It acts broadly like an eventfd, in that you
can wake (write) or wait (read), but without the distinction of having
different nonzero values in the internal counter.

You could also think of it as a semaphore with a maximum count of one.
However, unlike a semaphore it also supports the "pulse" operation, and
you can also have "manual-reset" events that *don't* change state when
you wait on them (no equivalent for regular semaphores).
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Unless specified otherwise, all operations on an object are atomic and
totally ordered with respect to other operations on the same object.
Objects are represented by files. When all file descriptors to an
object are closed, that object is deleted.
Char device
===========
The ntsync driver creates a single char device /dev/ntsync. Each file
description opened on the device represents a unique instance intended
to back an individual NT virtual machine. Objects created by one ntsync
instance may only be used with other objects created by the same
instance.
ioctl reference
===============
All operations on the device are done through ioctls. There are four
structures used in ioctl calls::
struct ntsync_sem_args {
       __u32 sem;
       __u32 count;
       __u32 max;
   };
struct ntsync_mutex_args {
       __u32 mutex;
       __u32 owner;
       __u32 count;
   };
struct ntsync_event_args {
       __u32 event;
       __u32 signaled;
       __u32 manual;
   };
struct ntsync_wait_args {
       __u64 timeout;
       __u64 objs;
       __u32 count;
       __u32 owner;
       __u32 index;
       __u32 alert;
       __u32 flags;
       __u32 pad;
   };
Depending on the ioctl, members of the structure may be used as input,
output, or not at all. All ioctls return 0 on success.
The ioctls on the device file are as follows:
NTSYNC_IOC_CREATE_SEM
Create a semaphore object. Takes a pointer to struct ntsync_sem_args,
  which is used as follows:
* sem:   On output, contains a file descriptor to the created semaphore.
     * count: Initial count of the semaphore.
     * max:   Maximum count of the semaphore.
Fails with EINVAL if `count` is greater than `max`.
So the implication is that @count and @max are input argument and as
such should be set before calling the ioctl()?
It would not have been weird to have the ioctl() return the fd on
success I suppose, instead of mixing input and output arguments like
this, but whatever, this works.
I think that would have been fine, and I could still change it
accordingly. The reason I didn't do that was that [1] advises against
it (although I don't know why).

[1] https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/ioctl.html#return-code
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The ioctls on the individual objects are as follows:
NTSYNC_IOC_SEM_POST
Post to a semaphore object. Takes a pointer to a 32-bit integer,
  which on input holds the count to be added to the semaphore, and on
  output contains its previous count.
If adding to the semaphore's current count would raise the latter
  past the semaphore's maximum count, the ioctl fails with
  EOVERFLOW and the semaphore is not affected. If raising the
  semaphore's count causes it to become signaled, eligible threads
  waiting on this semaphore will be woken and the semaphore's count
  decremented appropriately.
Urg, so this is the traditional V (vrijgeven per Dijkstra, release in
English), but now 'conveniently' called POST, such that it can be
readily confused with the P operation (passering, or passing) which it
is not.
Glorious :-/
You're of course going to tell me NT did this and you can't help this
naming foible.
No, NT calls it "release" (and the operation on a mutex is also
"release" rather than "unlock".) I called it "post" after POSIX
semaphores, on the idea that it'd be more familiar to a Unix developer
(and shorter). I see I was wrong, so I'll rename it to "release".
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NTSYNC_IOC_MUTEX_UNLOCK
Release a mutex object. Takes a pointer to struct ntsync_mutex_args,
  which is used as follows:
* mutex: Ignored.
     * owner: Specifies the owner trying to release this mutex.
     * count: On output, contains the previous recursion count.
If "owner" is zero, the ioctl fails with EINVAL. If "owner"
  is not the current owner of the mutex, the ioctl fails with
  EPERM.
ISTR you having written elsewhere that NT actually demands mutexes to be
strictly per thread, which for the above would mandate @owner to be
current, no?
Right. We could replace owner with current everywhere except for 
NTSYNC_IOC_KILL_OWNER.
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The mutex's count will be decremented by one. If decrementing the
  mutex's count causes it to become zero, the mutex is marked as
  unowned and signaled, and eligible threads waiting on it will be
  woken as appropriate.
NTSYNC_IOC_SET_EVENT
Signal an event object. Takes a pointer to a 32-bit integer, which on
  output contains the previous state of the event.
Eligible threads will be woken, and auto-reset events will be
  designaled appropriately.
Hmm, so the event thing is like a simple wait-wake scheme? Where the
'signaled' bit is used as the wakeup state?
Yes, exactly.
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NTSYNC_IOC_RESET_EVENT
Designal an event object. Takes a pointer to a 32-bit integer, which
  on output contains the previous state of the event.
NTSYNC_IOC_PULSE_EVENT
Wake threads waiting on an event object while leaving it in an
  unsignaled state. Takes a pointer to a 32-bit integer, which on
  output contains the previous state of the event.
A pulse operation can be thought of as a set followed by a reset,
  performed as a single atomic operation. If two threads are waiting on
  an auto-reset event which is pulsed, only one will be woken. If two
  threads are waiting a manual-reset event which is pulsed, both will
  be woken. However, in both cases, the event will be unsignaled
  afterwards, and a simultaneous read operation will always report the
  event as unsignaled.
*groan*
Yep :D

This one is terrible, and it's the only one that Microsoft has come out
and explicitly said "don't use this". Supposedly their kernel is even
coded such that if a waiting thread gets hit by an interrupt that the
pulse will go unnoticed, although I've tried to reproduce this in
practice and been unsuccessful.

But of course it's terrible regardless, because you never know if your
thread is waiting or not. In practice it seems to usually be used on a
timer, though, so that part doesn't matter as much.
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NTSYNC_IOC_READ_SEM
Read the current state of a semaphore object. Takes a pointer to
  struct ntsync_sem_args, which is used as follows:
* sem:   Ignored.
     * count: On output, contains the current count of the semaphore.
     * max:   On output, contains the maximum count of the semaphore.
This seems inherently racy -- what is the intended purpose of this
interface?
Specifically the moment a value is returned, either P or V operations
can change it, rendering the (as yet unused) return value incorrect.
I have no idea what it's intended for. Actually it's not even exposed
as a documented API, only an undocumented one. But it does work, and
applications use it.
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NTSYNC_IOC_READ_MUTEX
Read the current state of a mutex object. Takes a pointer to struct
  ntsync_mutex_args, which is used as follows:
* mutex: Ignored.
     * owner: On output, contains the current owner of the mutex, or zero
              if the mutex is not currently owned.
     * count: On output, contains the current recursion count of the mutex.
If the mutex is marked as abandoned, the function fails with
  EOWNERDEAD. In this case, "count" and "owner" are set to zero.
Another questionable interface. I suspect you're going to be telling me
NT has them so you have to have them, but urgh.
Unfortunately yes.
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NTSYNC_IOC_READ_EVENT
Read the current state of an event object. Takes a pointer to struct
  ntsync_event_args, which is used as follows:
* event:    Ignored.
     * signaled: On output, contains the current state of the event.
     * manual:   On output, contains 1 if the event is a manual-reset event,
                 and 0 otherwise.
I can't help but notice all those @sem, @mutex, @event 'output' members
being unused except for create. Seems like a waste to have them.
Yes, mostly so I could reuse the existing structures.

On the other hand if there's no reason not to return fds from the
create ioctls, then we could just remove those members.
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NTSYNC_IOC_KILL_OWNER
Mark a mutex as unowned and abandoned if it is owned by the given
  owner. Takes an input-only pointer to a 32-bit integer denoting the
  owner. If the owner is zero, the ioctl fails with EINVAL. If the
  owner does not own the mutex, the function fails with EPERM.
Eligible threads waiting on the mutex will be woken as appropriate
  (and such waits will fail with EOWNERDEAD, as described below).
Wine will use this when it detects a thread exit I suppose.
Exactly.
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NTSYNC_IOC_WAIT_ANY
Poll on any of a list of objects, atomically acquiring at most one.
  Takes a pointer to struct ntsync_wait_args, which is used as follows:
* timeout: Absolute timeout in nanoseconds. If NTSYNC_WAIT_REALTIME
                is set, the timeout is measured against the REALTIME
                clock; otherwise it is measured against the MONOTONIC
                clock. If the timeout is equal to or earlier than the
                current time, the function returns immediately without
                sleeping. If "timeout" is U64_MAX, the function will
                sleep until an object is signaled, and will not fail
                with ETIMEDOUT.
* objs:    Pointer to an array of "count" file descriptors
                (specified as an integer so that the structure has the
                same size regardless of architecture). If any object is
                invalid, the function fails with EINVAL.
* count:   Number of objects specified in the "objs" array. If
                greater than NTSYNC_MAX_WAIT_COUNT, the function fails
                with EINVAL.
* owner:   Mutex owner identifier. If any object in "objs" is a
                mutex, the ioctl will attempt to acquire that mutex on
                behalf of "owner". If "owner" is zero, the ioctl
                fails with EINVAL.
Again, should that not be current? That is, why not maintain the NT
invariant and mandates TIDs and avoid the arguments in both cases?
I don't think there's any particular reason.
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* index:   On success, contains the index (into "objs") of the
                object which was signaled. If "alert" was signaled
                instead, this contains "count".
Could be the actual return value, no? Edit: no it cannot be because
-EOWNERDEAD case below.
Yeah. Again the advice about "only return zero from an ioctl", too.

Although we could also use a bit in the return value (which is also
kind of what NT does).
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A semaphore is considered to be signaled if its count is nonzero, and
  is acquired by decrementing its count by one. A mutex is considered
  to be signaled if it is unowned or if its owner matches the "owner"
  argument, and is acquired by incrementing its recursion count by one
  and setting its owner to the "owner" argument. An auto-reset event
  is acquired by designaling it; a manual-reset event is not affected
  by acquisition.
Acquisition is atomic and totally ordered with respect to other
  operations on the same object. If two wait operations (with different
  "owner" identifiers) are queued on the same mutex, only one is
  signaled. If two wait operations are queued on the same semaphore,
  and a value of one is posted to it, only one is signaled. The order
  in which threads are signaled is not specified.
Note that you do list the lack of guarantee here, but not above. I
suspect both cases are similar and guarantee nothing.
There's no documented guarantee in either case, but when testing in
controlled well-ordered environments, NtWaitForMultipleObjects() always
acquires the lowest index first, and I think wakes are FIFO. I'm not
really sure why I specified the guarantee for the former but not the
latter.
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The "alert" argument is an "extra" event which can terminate the
  wait, independently of all other objects. If members of "objs" and
  "alert" are both simultaneously signaled, a member of "objs" will
  always be given priority and acquired first.
It is valid to pass the same object more than once, including by
  passing the same event in the "objs" array and in "alert". If a
  wakeup occurs due to that object being signaled, "index" is set to
  the lowest index corresponding to that object.
Urgh, is this an actual guarantee? This almost seems to imply that at
[A] above we can indeed guarantee the lowest indexed object is acquired
first.
It's definitely legal in NT to pass the same object more than once (in
wait-for-any, not wait-for-all though), and it's definitely the case
that (at least in controlled well-ordered environments) the lowest
index is acquired first. I don't know of any application that
definitely depends on either of these, and they're not documented
behaviours, but Wine has implemented those behaviours and it would make
me nervous to break them here.

The part about passing the same event in "alert" and "objs" is not part
of NT exactly (in NT the "alert" isn't even an event; it's a special
bit of thread state; we just use an event for simplicity). I think I
specified it just to avoid coding an extra check (since it should Just
Work), while also making it clear that case was considered.
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The function may fail with EINTR if a signal is received.
In which case @index must be disregarded since nothing will be acquired,
right?
So far nothing really weird, and I'm thinking futexes should be able to
do all this, no?
Even disregarding wait-for-all, futexes aren't really good enough. Wait
operations need to consume state, and while we could put that state in
user space (and in fact we *do* have an out of tree patch set that kind
of does this) that requires all that state to be shared across
processes, which is a problem since we want processes to be isolated
unless they explicitly share objects with each other. There's not
a scalable way to achieve this, especially since you can share objects
lazily.

You also cannot do NtPulseEvent() this way. The aforementioned patch
set badly emulates it and it does in practice break any application
that uses it. Similarly there are some applications that do a weird
"fake pulse" where they set and then immediately reset an event from
the same thread, and expect that to always wake.

Re: [PATCH v4 00/30] NT synchronization primitive driver

Elizabeth Figura

Elizabeth Figura

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