Description
In this project, you’ll be adding real kernel threads to xv6. Sound like fun?
Well, it should. Because you are on your way to becoming a real kernel
hacker. And what could be more fun than that?
Specifically, you’ll do three things. First, you’ll define a new system call
to create a kernel thread, called `clone()`, as well as one to wait for a
thread called `join()`. Then, you’ll use `clone()` to build a little thread
library, with a `thread_create()` call and `lock_acquire()` and
`lock_release()` functions. That’s it! And now, for some details.
Overview
Your new clone system call should look like this: `int clone(void(*fcn)(void
*, void *), void *arg1, void *arg2, void *stack)`. This call creates a new
kernel thread which shares the calling process’s address space. File
descriptors are copied as in `fork()`. The new process uses `stack` as its
user stack, which is passed two arguments (`arg1` and `arg2`) and uses a fake
return PC (`0xffffffff`); a proper thread will simply call `exit()` when it is
done (and not `return`). The stack should be one page in size and
page-aligned. The new thread starts executing at the address specified by
`fcn`. As with `fork()`, the PID of the new thread is returned to the parent
(for simplicity, threads each have their own process ID).
The other new system call is `int join(void **stack)`. This call waits for a
child thread that shares the address space with the calling process to
exit. It returns the PID of waited-for child or -1 if none. The location of
the child’s user stack is copied into the argument `stack` (which can then be
freed).
You also need to think about the semantics of a couple of existing system
calls. For example, `int wait()` should wait for a child process that does not
share the address space with this process. It should also free the address
space if this is last reference to it. Also, `exit()` should work as before
but for both processes and threads; little change is required here.
Your thread library will be built on top of this, and just have a simple `int
thread_create(void (*start_routine)(void *, void *), void *arg1, void *arg2)`
routine. This routine should call `malloc()` to create a new user stack, use
`clone()` to create the child thread and get it running. It returns the newly
created PID to the parent and 0 to the child (if successful), -1 otherwise.
An `int thread_join()` call should also be created, which calls the underlying
`join()` system call, frees the user stack, and then returns. It returns the
waited-for PID (when successful), -1 otherwise.
Your thread library should also have a simple *ticket lock* (read [this book
chapter](http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/OSTEP/threads-locks.pdf) for more
information on this). There should be a type `lock_t` that one uses to declare
a lock, and two routines `void lock_acquire(lock_t *)` and `void
lock_release(lock_t *)`, which acquire and release the lock. The spin lock
should use x86 atomic add to build the lock — see [this wikipedia
page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetch-and-add) for a way to create an
atomic fetch-and-add routine using the x86 `xaddl` instruction. One last
routine, `void lock_init(lock_t *)`, is used to initialize the lock as need be
(it should only be called by one thread).
The thread library should be available as part of every program that runs in
xv6. Thus, you should add prototypes to `user/user.h` and the actual code to
implement the library routines in `user/ulib.c`.
One thing you need to be careful with is when an address space is grown by a
thread in a multi-threaded process (for example, when `malloc()` is called, it
may call `sbrk` to grow the address space of the process). Trace this code
path carefully and see where a new lock is needed and what else needs to be
updated to grow an address space in a multi-threaded process correctly.
Building `clone()` from `fork()`
To implement `clone()`, you should study (and mostly copy) the `fork()` system
call. The `fork()` system call will serve as a template for `clone()`, with
some modifications. For example, in `kernel/proc.c`, we see the beginning of
the `fork()` implementation:
“`c
int
fork(void)
{
int i, pid;
struct proc *np;
// Allocate process.
if((np = allocproc()) == 0)
return -1;
// Copy process state from p.
if((np->pgdir = copyuvm(proc->pgdir, proc->sz)) == 0){
kfree(np->kstack);
np->kstack = 0;
np->state = UNUSED;
return -1;
}
np->sz = proc->sz;
np->parent = proc;
*np->tf = *proc->tf;
“`
This code does some work you need to have done for `clone()`, for example,
calling `allocproc()` to allocate a slot in the process table, creating a
kernel stack for the new thread, etc.
However, as you can see, the next thing `fork()` does is copy the address
space and point the page directory (`np->pgdir`) to a new page table for that
address space. When creating a thread (as `clone()` does), you’ll want the
new child thread to be in the *same* address space as the parent; thus, there
is no need to create a copy of the address space, and the new thread’s
`np->pgdir` should be the same as the parent’s — they now share the address
space, and thus have the same page table.
Once that part is complete, there is a little more effort you’ll have to apply
inside `clone()` to make it work. Specifically, you’ll have to set up the
kernel stack so that when `clone()` returns in the child (i.e., in the newly
created thread), it runs on the user stack passed into clone (`stack`), that
the function `fcn` is the starting point of the child thread, and that the
arguments `arg1` and `arg2` are available to that function. This will be a
little work on your part to figure out; have fun!
x86 Calling Convention
One other thing you’ll have to understand to make this all work is the x86
calling convention, and exactly how the stack works when calling a function.
This is you can read about in [Programming From The Ground
Up](https://download-mirror.savannah.gnu.org/releases/pgubook/ProgrammingGroundUp-1-0-booksize.pdf),
a free online book. Specifically, you should understand Chapter 4 (and maybe
Chapter 3) and the details of call/return. All of this will be useful in
getting `clone()` above to set things up properly on the user stack of the
child thread.
