[Vm-dev] BUG? A problem with callbacks that shows up in 64bits (but is on 32bits too)

Eliot Miranda eliot.miranda at gmail.com
Wed Mar 15 23:44:22 UTC 2017 

Hi Igor,

On Wed, Mar 15, 2017 at 2:53 AM, Igor Stasenko <siguctua at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Here's my d)
> implement callback functions in C, or in native form => no need for
> entering the smalltalk execution => no risk of GC => nothing to worry about.
>
> I guess nobody will like it (and will be right, of course ;) , but it is
> how it was originally done. I used NativeBoost to implement those callback
> functions and they're won't cause any GC problems.
>

yes, I like this.  I was wondering why the callbacks solution was used at
all yesterday.  All they do is redirect to the cairo library.  What are the
reasons?  Tedious to write and maintain the necessary simple plugin?

Clément pointed out a really ugly problem with the current implementation.
If one calls back into Pharo from the BitBlt primitives and then reinvokes
BitBlt, say by innocently putting a halt in those callbacks, then the
original BitBlt's state will get overwritten by the BitBlt invocations in
the callback's dynamic exert.  At least with my changes the BitBlt
primitive will abort, rather than continue with the invalid state.


> That, of course, gave me solution in this concrete case, but not in
> general.. i.e. : if you have another callback that cannot be implemented
> na(t)ively, then
> you facing similar problems, mainly: how to work around the problem, that
> primitive(s) that using callbacks may capture state, that are subject of GC
> activity.
>
> In general , then, i think such primitive should be (re)written in such
> way , that it won't get puzzled by GC.. and addGCRoot(s), IMO then best
> way, from general interfacing/implementation standpoint.
> I would just add extra interface for using it especially in primitives, so
> that it
> 1) won't punish primitive writer with too much coding
> 2) automatically handle primitive/callback nesting e.g.
> primitive1 -> adds roots1 -> calls fn -> callback -> st code -> primitive2
> -> adds roots2 -> calls fn2 -> callback2 ...
>
>
> something like this:
>
> static initialized once myprimooptable = [ a,b,c].
> vm pushPrimRoots: myooptable.
> self do things primitive does.
> vm popPrimRoots
>
> or, since we have green threading, then maybe better will be in this form:
>
> rootsId := static initialized once myprimooptable = [ a,b,c].
> vm pushPrimRoots: myooptable.
> self do things primitive does.
> vm popPrimRoots: rootsId.
>

We kind of have this with the addGCRoot: interface.  But I think it's much
better to design the system so that the primitive fails and can be
retried.  The problem there is having to have the primitive failure code
check and roll back.  For example in the copyBits primitive one sees

((sourceForm isForm) and: [sourceForm unhibernate])
ifTrue: [^ self copyBits].
((destForm isForm) and: [destForm unhibernate])
ifTrue: [^ self copyBits].
((halftoneForm isForm) and: [halftoneForm unhibernate])
ifTrue: [^ self copyBits].

This is really scruffy because...GrafPort implements copyBits, so this ends
up not just retrying the primitive but running a lot more besides.  One way
to write it is


((sourceForm isForm) and: [sourceForm unhibernate])
ifTrue: [^ self perform: #copyBits withArguments: #() inSuperclass: BitBlt].
((destForm isForm) and: [destForm unhibernate])
ifTrue: [^ self perform: #copyBits withArguments: #() inSuperclass:
thisContext method methodClass].
((halftoneForm isForm) and: [halftoneForm unhibernate])
ifTrue: [^ self perform: #copyBits withArguments: #() inSuperclass:
thisContext methodClass].

but that's ugly.

A mechanism that was in the VM would be nice.  The state for the invocation
is saved on the stack.  So there could be a special failure path for this
kind of recursive invocation problem; another send-back such as
doesNotUnderstand: attemptToReturn:through:.  Note (I'm sure you know this
Igor)  that there are primitives such as the ThreadedFFIPlugin's call-out
primitive that very much expect to be invoked recursively and have no
problem with it.


>
>
> On 14 March 2017 at 18:33, Eliot Miranda <eliot.miranda at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 14, 2017 at 8:56 AM, Nicolai Hess <nicolaihess at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 2017-03-14 16:46 GMT+01:00 Eliot Miranda <eliot.miranda at gmail.com>:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hi Esteban, Hi Igor, Hi All,
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 7:35 AM, Esteban Lorenzano <estebanlm at gmail.com
>>>> > wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> I’m tumbling into an error in Pharo, because we use callbacks
>>>>> intensively, in Athens(cairo)-to-World conversion in particular, and people
>>>>> is sending always their crash reports… we made the whole conversion a lot
>>>>> more robust since problems started to arise, but now I hit a wall I cannot
>>>>> solve: I think problem is in something in callbacks.
>>>>>
>>>>> And problem is showing very easy on 64bits (while in 32bits it takes
>>>>> time and is more random).
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  I responded in the "image not opening" thread, but it's the same
>>>> problem.  I really want to hear what y'all think because I'll happily
>>>> implement a fix, but I want to know which one y'all think is a good idea.
>>>> Here's my reply (edits between [ & ] to add information):
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Mar 13, 2017 at 9:11 PM, Eliot Miranda <eliot.miranda at gmail.com
>>>> > wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I'm pretty confident [I know] this is to do with bugs in the Athens
>>>> surface code which assumes that callbacks can be made in the existing
>>>> copyBits and warpBits primitive.  They can't do this safely because a GC
>>>> (scavenge) can happen during a callback, which then causes chaos when the
>>>> copyBits primitive tries to access objects that have been moved under its
>>>> feet.
>>>>
>>>> I've done work to fix callbacks so that when there is a failure it is
>>>> the copyBits primitive that fails, instead of apparently the callback
>>>> return primitive.  One of the apparent effects of this fix is to stop the
>>>> screen opening up too small; another is getting the background colour
>>>> right, and yet another is eliminating bogus pixels in the VGTigerDemo
>>>> demo.  But more work is required to fix the copyBits and warpBits
>>>> primitives.  There are a few approaches one might take:
>>>>
>>>> a)  fixing the primitive so that it saves and restores oops around the
>>>> callbacks using the external oop table [InterpreterProxy>>addGCRoot: &
>>>> removeGCRoot:].  That's a pain but possible. [It's a pain because all the
>>>> derived pointers (the start of the destForm, sourceForm, halftoneForm and
>>>> colorMapTable) must be recomputed also, and of course most of the time the
>>>> objects don't move; we only scavenge about once every 2 seconds in normal
>>>> running]
>>>>
>>>> b) fixing the primitive so that it pins the objects it needs before
>>>> ever invoking a callback [this is a pain because pinning an object causes
>>>> it to be tenured to old space if it is in new space; objects can't be
>>>> pinned in new space, so instead the pin operation forwards the new space
>>>> object to an old space copy if required and answers its location in old
>>>> space, so a putative withPinnedObjectsDo: operation for the copyBits
>>>> primitive looks like
>>>> withPinnedFormsDo: aBlock
>>>> <inline: #always>
>>>> self cppIf: SPURVM & false
>>>> ifTrue:
>>>> [| bitBltOopWasPinned destWasPinned sourceWasPinned halftoneWasPinned |
>>>>  (bitBltOopWasPinned := interpreterProxy isPinned: bitBltOop) ifFalse:
>>>> [bitBltOop := interpreterProxy pinObject: bitBltOop].
>>>> (destWasPinned := interpreterProxy isPinned: destForm) ifFalse:
>>>> [destForm := interpreterProxy pinObject: destForm].
>>>> (sourceWasPinned := interpreterProxy isPinned: sourceForm) ifFalse:
>>>> [sourceForm := interpreterProxy pinObject: sourceForm].
>>>> (halftoneWasPinned := interpreterProxy isPinned: halftoneForm) ifFalse:
>>>> [halftoneForm := interpreterProxy pinObject: halftoneForm].
>>>> aBlock value.
>>>>  bitBltOopWasPinned ifFalse: [interpreterProxy unpinObject: bitBltOop].
>>>> destWasPinned ifFalse: [interpreterProxy unpinObject: destForm].
>>>> sourceWasPinned ifFalse: [interpreterProxy unpinObject: sourceForm].
>>>> halftoneWasPinned ifFalse: [interpreterProxy unpinObject: halftoneForm]]
>>>> ifFalse: [aBlock value]
>>>>    and tenuring objects to old space is not ideal because they are only
>>>> collected by a full GC, so doing this would at least tenure the bitBltOop
>>>> which is very likely to be in new space]
>>>>
>>>> c) fixing the primitive so that it uses the scavenge and fullGC
>>>> counters in the VM to detect if a GC occurred during one of the callbacks
>>>> and would fail the primitive [if it detected that a GC had occurred in any
>>>> of the surface functions].   The primitive would then simply be retried.
>>>>
>>>> d) ?
>>>>
>>>
>>> Wouldn't it be possible to just pause the GC (scavange) when entering a
>>> primitive ?
>>>
>>
>> I don't think so.  There is a callback occurring.  If the computation
>> executed by the callback requires a GC the application will abort if a GC
>> cannot be done.  Right?  This is the case here.
>>
>>
>> I like c) as it's very lightweight, but it has issues.  It is fine to use
>>>> for callbacks *before* cop[yBits and warpBits move any bits (the
>>>> lockSurface and querySurface functions).  But it's potentially erroneous
>>>> after the unlockSurface primitive.  For example, a primitive which does an
>>>> xor with the screen can't simply be retried as the first, falling pass,
>>>> would have updated the destination bits but not displayed them via
>>>> unlockSurface.  But I think it could be arranged that no objects are
>>>> accessed after unlockSurface, which should naturally be the last call in
>>>> the primitive (or do I mean showSurface?).  So the approach would be to
>>>> check for GCs occurring during querySurface and lockSurface, failing if so,
>>>> and then caching any and all state needed by unlockSurface and showSurface
>>>> in local variables.  This way no object state is accessed to make the
>>>> unlockSurface and showSurface calls, and no bits are moved before the
>>>> queryDurface and lockSurface calls.
>>>>
>>>> If we used a failure code such as #'object may move' then the
>>>> primitives could answer this when a GC during callbacks is detected and
>>>> then the primitive could be retried only when required.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> [Come on folks, please comment.  I want to know which idea you like
>>>> best.  We could fix this quickly.  But right now it feels like I'm talking
>>>> to myself.]
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Here is the easiest way to reproduce it (in mac):
>>>>>
>>>>> wget files.pharo.org/get-files/60/pharo64-mac-latest.zip
>>>>> wget files.pharo.org/get-files/60/pharo64.zip
>>>>> wget files.pharo.org/get-files/60/sources.zip
>>>>> unzip pharo64-mac-latest.zip
>>>>> unzip pharo64.zip
>>>>> unzip sources.zip
>>>>> ./Pharo.app/Contents/MacOS/Pharo ./Pharo64-60438.image eval
>>>>> "VGTigerDemo runDemo"
>>>>>
>>>>> eventually (like 5-6 seconds after, if not immediately), you will have
>>>>> a stack like this:
>>>>>
>>>>> SmallInteger(Object)>>primitiveFailed:
>>>>> SmallInteger(Object)>>primitiveFailed
>>>>> SmallInteger(VMCallbackContext64)>>primSignal:andReturnAs:fromContext:
>>>>> GrafPort>>copyBits
>>>>> GrafPort>>image:at:sourceRect:rule:
>>>>> FormCanvas>>image:at:sourceRect:rule:
>>>>> FormCanvas(Canvas)>>drawImage:at:sourceRect:
>>>>> FormCanvas(Canvas)>>drawImage:at:
>>>>> VGTigerDemo>>runDemo
>>>>> VGTigerDemo class>>runDemo
>>>>> UndefinedObject>>DoIt
>>>>> OpalCompiler>>evaluate
>>>>> OpalCompiler(AbstractCompiler)>>evaluate:
>>>>> [ result := Smalltalk compiler evaluate: aStream.
>>>>> self hasSessionChanged
>>>>>         ifFalse: [ self stdout
>>>>>                         print: result;
>>>>>                         lf ] ] in EvaluateCommandLineHandler>>evaluate:
>>>>> in Block: [ result := Smalltalk compiler evaluate: aStream....
>>>>> BlockClosure>>on:do:
>>>>> EvaluateCommandLineHandler>>evaluate:
>>>>> EvaluateCommandLineHandler>>evaluateArguments
>>>>> EvaluateCommandLineHandler>>activate
>>>>> EvaluateCommandLineHandler class(CommandLineHandler
>>>>> class)>>activateWith:
>>>>> [ aCommandLinehandler activateWith: commandLine ] in
>>>>> PharoCommandLineHandler(BasicCommandLineHandler)>>activateSubCommand:
>>>>> in Block: [ aCommandLinehandler activateWith: commandLine ]
>>>>> BlockClosure>>on:do:
>>>>> PharoCommandLineHandler(BasicCommandLineHandler)>>activateSubCommand:
>>>>> PharoCommandLineHandler(BasicCommandLineHandler)>>handleSubcommand
>>>>> PharoCommandLineHandler(BasicCommandLineHandler)>>handleArgument:
>>>>> [ self
>>>>>         handleArgument:
>>>>>                 (self arguments
>>>>>                         ifEmpty: [ '' ]
>>>>>                         ifNotEmpty: [ :arguments | arguments first ])
>>>>> ] in PharoCommandLineHandler(BasicCommandLineHandler)>>activate in
>>>>> Block: [ self...
>>>>> BlockClosure>>on:do:
>>>>> PharoCommandLineHandler(BasicCommandLineHandler)>>activate
>>>>> PharoCommandLineHandler>>activate
>>>>> PharoCommandLineHandler class(CommandLineHandler class)>>activateWith:
>>>>> [ super activateWith: aCommandLine ] in PharoCommandLineHandler
>>>>> class>>activateWith: in Block: [ super activateWith: aCommandLine ]
>>>>>
>>>>> Any idea?
>>>>>
>>>>> thanks!
>>>>> Esteban
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> _,,,^..^,,,_
>>>> best, Eliot
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> _,,,^..^,,,_
>> best, Eliot
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Best regards,
> Igor Stasenko.
>
>


-- 
_,,,^..^,,,_
best, Eliot
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