[PATCH] kernel/smp: Improve smp_call_function_single() CSD-lock diagnostics

From: Paul E. McKenney

Date: Fri Mar 20 2026 - 06:46:04 EST


Both smp_call_function() and smp_call_function_single() use per-CPU
call_single_data_t variable to hold the infamous CSD lock. However,
while smp_call_function() acquires the destination CPU's CSD lock,
smp_call_function_single() instead uses the source CPU's CSD lock.
(These are two separate sets of CSD locks, cfd_data and csd_data,
respectively.)

This otherwise inexplicable pair of choices is explained by their
respective queueing properties. If smp_call_function() where to
use the sending CPU's CSD lock, that would serialize the destination
CPUs' IPI handlers and result in long smp_call_function() latencies,
especially on systems with large numbers of CPUs. For its part, if
smp_call_function_single() were to use the (single) destination CPU's
CSD lock, this would similarly serialize in the case where many CPUs
are sending IPIs to a single "victim" CPU. Plus it would result in
higher levels of memory contention.

Except that if you don't have NMI-based stack tracing and you are working
with a weakly ordered system where remote unsynchronized stack traces are
especially unreliable, the improved debugging beats the improved queueing.
Keep in mind that this improved queueing only matters if a bunch of
CPUs are calling smp_call_function_single() concurrently for a single
"victim" CPU, which is not the common case.

Therefore, make smp_call_function_single() use the destination CPU's
csd_data instance in kernels built with CONFIG_CSD_LOCK_WAIT_DEBUG=y
where csdlock_debug_enabled is also set. Otherwise, continue to use
the source CPU's csd_data.

Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@xxxxxxxxxx>

diff --git a/kernel/smp.c b/kernel/smp.c
index f349960f79cad..09521cb38a55c 100644
--- a/kernel/smp.c
+++ b/kernel/smp.c
@@ -377,6 +377,20 @@ static __always_inline void csd_unlock(call_single_data_t *csd)

static DEFINE_PER_CPU_SHARED_ALIGNED(call_single_data_t, csd_data);

+#ifdef CONFIG_CSD_LOCK_WAIT_DEBUG
+static call_single_data_t *get_single_csd_data(int cpu)
+{
+ if (static_branch_unlikely(&csdlock_debug_enabled))
+ return per_cpu_ptr(&csd_data, cpu);
+ return this_cpu_ptr(&csd_data);
+}
+#else
+static call_single_data_t *get_single_csd_data(int cpu)
+{
+ return this_cpu_ptr(&csd_data);
+}
+#endif
+
void __smp_call_single_queue(int cpu, struct llist_node *node)
{
/*
@@ -670,7 +684,7 @@ int smp_call_function_single(int cpu, smp_call_func_t func, void *info,

csd = &csd_stack;
if (!wait) {
- csd = this_cpu_ptr(&csd_data);
+ csd = get_single_csd_data(cpu);
csd_lock(csd);
}