Methods and apparatus to form a transactional objective instruction construct from lock-based critical sections

• US 7,844,946 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2006
• Issued: 11/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Wu, Youfeng, Wang, Cheng
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Thomas K
• Application Number:
  US11/535,205
• Publication Number:
  US 20080126755A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,526 Days
• Field of Search: 717/119, 717/149, 718/104, 718/105
• US Class Current: 717/119
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/466 Transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/524 Deadlock detection or avoidance

Abstract

Methods and an apparatus for forming a transaction object instruction construct are provided. An example method translates a source instruction construct to form a transactional objective instruction construct, executes the transactional objective instruction construct, intercepts an aborted transaction associated with the transactional objective instruction construct during execution, maintains a graph of nodes and edges associated with the executed transactional objective instruction construct to predict a deadlock situation, and resolves the deadlock situation associated with the transactional objective instruction construct based on the graph.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

translating a source instruction construct to form a first transactional objective instruction construct;

executing the first transactional objective instruction construct;

intercepting an aborted transaction associated with the executed first transactional objective instruction construct when a conflict is detected;

maintaining a graph of nodes and edges associated with the executed first transactional objective instruction construct to predict a deadlock situation;

resolving the predicted deadlock situation associated with the first transactional objective instruction construct based on the graph; and

identifying the source instruction construct as a candidate for translation prevention in response to the conflict associated with the first transactional objective instruction construct.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein translating the source instruction construct comprises determining that the source instruction construct has a lock-based instruction construct.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein executing the first transactional objective instruction construct comprises loading the first transactional objective instruction into a computing platform memory and executing the first transactional objective instruction from the computing platform memory.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein intercepting the aborted transaction comprises identifying the aborted transaction.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein intercepting the aborted transaction comprises identifying the aborted transaction and identifying an aborting transaction.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein intercepting the aborted transaction comprises identifying the aborted transaction and storing an identity of the aborted transaction to a variable to identify a previously aborted transaction.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein maintaining the graph of nodes and edges associated with the executed first transactional objective instruction construct comprises creating an edge between a first node associated with an aborting transaction and a second node associated with the aborted transaction in the graph and checking the graph with the edge to identify a cycle to predict the deadlock situation.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein maintaining the graph of nodes and edges associated with the executed first transactional objective instruction construct comprises:

creating an edge between a first node associated with the aborted transaction and a second node associated with a variable to identify a previously aborted transaction in the graph;

checking the graph with the edge to identify a cycle to predict the deadlock situation; and

storing the aborted transaction to the variable to identify the previously aborted transaction.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein resolving the predicted deadlock situation comprises:

flushing the first transactional objective instruction construct;

aborting live transactions; and

disabling future attempts to translate the source instruction construct to form a second transactional objective instruction construct when a predetermined number of cycles in the graph are identified.

10. An article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to:

translate a source instruction construct to form a first transactional objective instruction construct;

execute the first transactional objective instruction construct;

intercept an aborted transaction associated with the executed first transactional objective instruction construct when a conflict is detected;

maintain a graph of nodes and edges associated with the executed first transactional objective instruction construct to predict a deadlock situation;

resolve the predicted deadlock situation associated with the first transactional objective instruction construct based on the graph; and

identify the source instruction construct as a candidate for translation prevention in response to the conflict associated with the first transactional objective instruction construct.

11. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 10, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to translate the source instruction construct by identifying a source instruction construct having a lock-based instruction construct.

12. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 10, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to execute the first transactional objective instruction construct by loading the first transactional objective instruction into a computing platform memory and executing the first transactional objective instruction from the computing platform memory.

13. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 10, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to intercept the aborted transaction to identify the aborted transaction.

14. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 10, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to intercept the aborted transaction to identify the aborted transaction and to identify an aborting transaction.

15. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 10, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to intercept the aborted transaction to identify the aborted transaction and to store an identity of the aborted transaction to a variable to identify a previously aborted transaction.

16. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 10, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to maintain the graph of nodes and edges associated with the executed first transactional objective instruction construct by creating an edge between a first node associated with an aborting transaction and a second node associated with the aborted transaction in the graph and checking the graph with the edge to identify a cycle to predict the deadlock situation.

17. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 10, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to maintain the graph of nodes and edges associated with the executed first transactional objective instruction construct by:

creating an edge between a first node associated with the aborted transaction and a second node associated with a variable to identify a previously aborted transaction in the graph;

checking the graph with the edge to identify a cycle to predict the deadlock situation; and

storing the aborted transaction to the variable to identify the previously aborted transaction.

18. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 10, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to resolve the predicted deadlock situation by:

flushing the first transactional objective instruction construct;

aborting live transactions; and

disabling future attempts to translate the source instruction construct to form a second transactional objective instruction construct when a predetermined number of cycles in the graph are identified.

19. An apparatus comprising:

a computing platform; and

a dynamic binary translator coupled to the computing platform to;

translate a source instruction construct to form a first transactional objective instruction construct;

execute the first transactional objective instruction construct;

intercept an aborted transaction associated with the executed first transactional objective instruction construct when a conflict is detected;

maintain a graph of nodes and edges associated with the executed first transactional objective instruction construct to predict a deadlock situation;

resolve the predicted deadlock situation associated with the first transactional objective instruction construct based on the graph; and

identify the source instruction construct as a candidate for translation prevention in response to the conflict associated with the first transactional objective instruction construct.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the dynamic binary translator is to translate the source instruction construct by identifying a source instruction construct having a lock-based instruction construct.

21. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the dynamic binary translator is to execute the first transactional objective instruction construct by loading the first transactional objective instruction into the computing platform memory associated with the computing platform.

22. An apparatus as defined in claim 21, wherein the computing platform is to execute the loaded first transactional objective instruction from the memory.

23. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the dynamic binary translator is to intercept the aborted transaction to identify the aborted transaction.

24. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the dynamic binary translator is to intercept the aborted transaction to identify the aborted transaction and to identify an aborting transaction.

25. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the dynamic binary translator is to intercept the aborted transaction to identify the aborted transaction and to store the identity of the aborted transaction to a variable to identify a previously aborted transaction.

26. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the dynamic binary translator is to maintain the graph of nodes and edges associated with the executed first transactional objective instruction construct by creating an edge between a first node associated with an aborting transaction and a second node associated with the aborted transaction in the graph and checking the graph with the edge to identify a cycle to predict the deadlock situation.

27. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the dynamic binary translator is to maintain the graph of nodes and edges associated with the executed first transactional objective instruction construct by:

creating an edge between a first node associated with the aborted transaction and a second node associated with a variable to identify a previously aborted transaction in the graph;

checking the graph with the edge to identify a cycle to predict the deadlock situation; and

storing the aborted transaction to the variable to identify a previously aborted transaction.

28. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the dynamic binary translator is to resolve the predicted deadlock situation by:

flushing the first transactional objective instruction construct;

aborting live transactions; and

disabling future attempts to translate the source instruction construct to a second transactional objective instruction construct when a predetermined number of cycles in the graph are identified.