[libvirt] [Qemu-devel] [PATCH v4 0/7] file descriptor passing using pass-fd

[Eric Blake]

On 07/03/2012 11:46 AM, Corey Bryant wrote:

> 
> Yes, I think adding a +1 to the refcount for the monitor makes sense.
> 
> I'm a bit unsure how to increment the refcount when a monitor reconnects
> though.  Maybe it is as simple as adding a +1 to each fd's refcount when
> the next QMP monitor connects.

Or maybe delay a +1 until after a 'query-fds' - it is not until the
monitor has reconnected and learned what fds it should be aware of that
incrementing the refcount again makes sense.  But that would mean making
'query-fds' track whether this is the first call since the monitor
reconnected, as it shouldn't normally increase refcounts.

The other alternative is that the monitor never re-increments a
refcount.  Once a monitor disconnects, that fd is lost to the monitor,
and a reconnected monitor must pass in a new fd to be re-associated with
the fdset.  In other words, the monitor's use of an fd is a one-way
operation, starting life in use but ending at the first disconnect or
remove-fd.


>> 1. client calls 'add-fd', qemu is now tracking fd=4 with refcount 1, in
>> use by monitor, as member of fdset1
>> 2. client calls 'device-add' with /dev/fdset/1 as the backing filename,
>> so qemu_open() increments the refcount to 2
>> 3. client crashes, so all tracked fds are visited; fd=4 had not yet been
>> passed to 'remove-fd', so qemu decrements refcount to 1, but leaves fd=4
>> open because it is still in use by the block device
>> 4. client re-establishes QMP connection, and 'query-fds' lets client
>> learn about fd=4 still being open as part of fdset1, but also informs
>> client that fd is not in use by the monitor
> 
> And in step 4 the QMP connection will increment the refcount +1 for all
> fds that persisted through the QMP disconnect. (?)

I'm not sure we need the refcount increment on reconnect.  'query-fds'
should provide enough information for the new monitor to know what
fdsets are still in use by qemu, even though they are no longer
available to 'remove-fd' from the monitor, and if the monitor is worried
about keeping the fd set alive it can call 'add-fd' to again associate a
new fd with the set.  The lifetime of a set is thus as long as any of
its associated fds have a non-zero refcount.

-- 
Eric Blake   eblake at redhat.com    +1-919-301-3266
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org



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