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Re: [PATCH] 802.1Q VLAN

To: Ben Greear <greearb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] 802.1Q VLAN
From: Tommy Christensen <tommy.christensen@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 01:40:59 +0200
Cc: "'netdev@xxxxxxxxxxx'" <netdev@xxxxxxxxxxx>, "Linux 802.1Q VLAN" <vlan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Francois Romieu <romieu@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "David S. Miller" <davem@xxxxxxxxxx>
In-reply-to: <417D675F.3000909@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
References: <41797696.9070905@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> <20041022214611.GA4948@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> <41798506.1030909@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> <417D675F.3000909@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sender: netdev-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxx
User-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040803
Ben Greear wrote:

--- linux-2.6.9/net/8021q/vlan_dev.c    2004-10-18 14:55:07.000000000 -0700
+++ linux-2.6.9.p4s/net/8021q/vlan_dev.c        2004-10-25 13:38:32.779294920 
-0700
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*
+/* -*- linux-c -*-
  * INET                802.1Q VLAN
  *             Ethernet-type device handling.
  *
@@ -484,13 +484,26 @@
               veth->h_vlan_proto, veth->h_vlan_TCI, 
veth->h_vlan_encapsulated_proto);
 #endif
- stats->tx_packets++; /* for statics only */
-       stats->tx_bytes += skb->len;
-
        skb->dev = VLAN_DEV_INFO(dev)->real_dev;
-       dev_queue_xmit(skb);
- return 0;
+       {
+               /* Please note, dev_queue_xmit consumes the pkt regardless of 
the
+                * error value.  So, will copy the skb first and free if 
successful.
+                */
+               struct sk_buff* skb2 = skb_get(skb);
+               int rv = dev_queue_xmit(skb2);
+               if (rv == 0) {
+                       /* Was success, need to free the skb reference since we 
bumped up the
+                        * user count above.
+                        */
+
+                       stats->tx_packets++; /* for statics only */
+                       stats->tx_bytes += skb->len;
+
+                       kfree_skb(skb);
+               }
+               return rv;
+       }
 }
int vlan_dev_hwaccel_hard_start_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev)

Hi Ben,

I am not happy with this change to vlan_dev_hard_start_xmit().

I certainly appreciate the idea of avoiding flow-control "black-holes", but 
that would
take more than just this change. You have to consider (at least) these issues:

 o It is considered an error if a queue-less device returns anything but zero 
from its
   hard_start_xmit() function (see dev_queue_xmit()).

 o So, lets add a tx queue to it. Sure, that would be nice. Now we can even do 
shaping
   and other fancy stuff. But then how do we manage netif_queue_stopped? 
Especially
   restarting the queue could be tricky.

 o But couldn't we skip netif_stop_queue() and just return NETDEV_TX_BUSY when 
congested?
   No, that would make the qdisc system "busy-retry" untill it succeeds. BAD.

 o It is unsafe to pass a shared skb to dev_queue_xmit() unless you control all 
the
   references yourself. (It will likely be enqueued on a list.)

And specifically for this patch:

 o The skb could be freed (replaced) in __vlan_put_tag(), so you cannot tell 
the caller
   to hang on to it.

 o If rv is NET_XMIT_CN (and probably also rv < 0) you have to return 0, in 
order to
   make the caller forget about this skb.


Dave, I think this part of the patch should be reverted until someone comes up 
with a
general scheme for flow_control handling through virtual devices.


-Tommy

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