Scalable Delayed Dealloc

A scalable lock-free delayed memory reclaimer that emulates garbage collection by keeping track of memory reachability.

The delayed deallocation algorithm is based on a variant of epoch-based reclamation where retired memory chunks are stored in thread-local storage until specific criteria are met. The crossbeam_epoch crate offers similar functionality, however, users will find sdd more straightforward to use as the lifetime of a memory chunk is safely managed. For instance, sdd::AtomicOwned and sdd::Owned retire the contained instance when they are dropped, and sdd::AtomicShared and sdd::Shared retire the instance when the last strong reference is dropped.

Features

• Lock-free epoch-based reclamation.
• Loom support: features = ["loom"].

Examples

This crate can be used without an unsafe block.

use sdd::{suspend, AtomicOwned, AtomicShared, Guard, Owned, Ptr, Shared, Tag};
use std::sync::atomic::Ordering::Relaxed;

// `atomic_shared` holds a strong reference to `17`.
let atomic_shared: AtomicShared<usize> = AtomicShared::new(17);

// `atomic_owned` owns `19`.
let atomic_owned: AtomicOwned<usize> = AtomicOwned::new(19);

// `guard` prevents the garbage collector from dropping reachable instances.
let guard = Guard::new();

// `ptr` cannot outlive `guard`.
let mut ptr: Ptr<usize> = atomic_shared.load(Relaxed, &guard);
assert_eq!(*ptr.as_ref().unwrap(), 17);

// `atomic_shared` can be tagged.
atomic_shared.update_tag_if(Tag::First, |p| p.tag() == Tag::None, Relaxed, Relaxed);

// `ptr` is not tagged, so CAS fails.
assert!(atomic_shared.compare_exchange(
    ptr,
    (Some(Shared::new(18)), Tag::First),
    Relaxed,
    Relaxed,
    &guard).is_err());

// `ptr` can be tagged.
ptr.set_tag(Tag::First);

// The ownership of the contained instance is transferred to the return value of CAS.
let prev: Shared<usize> = atomic_shared.compare_exchange(
    ptr,
    (Some(Shared::new(19)), Tag::Second),
    Relaxed,
    Relaxed,
    &guard).unwrap().0.unwrap();
assert_eq!(*prev, 17);

// `17` will be garbage-collected later.
drop(prev);

// `sdd::AtomicShared` can be converted into `sdd::Shared`.
let shared: Shared<usize> = atomic_shared.into_shared(Relaxed).unwrap();
assert_eq!(*shared, 19);

// `18` and `19` will be garbage-collected later.
drop(shared);
drop(atomic_owned);

// `17` is still valid as `guard` keeps the garbage collector from dropping it.
assert_eq!(*ptr.as_ref().unwrap(), 17);

// Execution of a closure can be deferred until all the current readers are gone.
guard.defer_execute(|| println!("deferred"));
drop(guard);

// `sdd::Owned` and `sdd::Shared` can be nested.
let shared_nested: Shared<Owned<Shared<usize>>> = Shared::new(Owned::new(Shared::new(20)));
assert_eq!(***shared_nested, 20);

// If the thread is expected to lie dormant for a while, call `suspend()` to allow
// others to reclaim the memory.
suspend();

Memory Overhead

Retired instances are stored in intrusive queues in thread-local storage, and therefore, additional space for Option<NonNull<dyn Collectible>> is allocated per instance.

Performance

The average time taken to enter and exit a protected region: less than a nanosecond on Apple M4 Pro.

Applications

sdd provides widely used lock-free concurrent data structures, including LinkedList, Bag, Queue, and Stack.

LinkedList

LinkedList is a trait that implements lock-free concurrent singly linked list operations. It additionally provides a method for marking a linked list entry to denote a user-defined state.

use std::sync::atomic::Ordering::Relaxed;

use sdd::{AtomicShared, Guard, LinkedList, Shared};

#[derive(Default)]
struct L(AtomicShared<L>, usize);
impl LinkedList for L {
    fn link_ref(&self) -> &AtomicShared<L> {
        &self.0
    }
}

let guard = Guard::new();

let head: L = L::default();
let tail: Shared<L> = Shared::new(L(AtomicShared::null(), 1));

// A new entry is pushed.
assert!(head.push_back(tail.clone(), false, Relaxed, &guard).is_ok());
assert!(!head.is_marked(Relaxed));

// Users can mark a flag on an entry.
head.mark(Relaxed);
assert!(head.is_marked(Relaxed));

// `next_ptr` traverses the linked list.
let next_ptr = head.next_ptr(Relaxed, &guard);
assert_eq!(next_ptr.as_ref().unwrap().1, 1);

// Once `tail` is deleted, it becomes unreachable.
tail.delete_self(Relaxed);
assert!(head.next_ptr(Relaxed, &guard).is_null());

Bag

Bag is a concurrent lock-free unordered container. Bag is completely opaque, disallowing access to contained instances until they are popped. Bag is especially efficient if the number of contained instances can be maintained under ARRAY_LEN (default: usize::BITS / 2)

use sdd::Bag;

let bag: Bag<usize> = Bag::default();

bag.push(1);
assert!(!bag.is_empty());
assert_eq!(bag.pop(), Some(1));
assert!(bag.is_empty());

Queue

Queue is a concurrent lock-free first-in-first-out container.

use sdd::Queue;

let queue: Queue<usize> = Queue::default();

queue.push(1);
assert!(queue.push_if(2, |e| e.map_or(false, |x| **x == 1)).is_ok());
assert!(queue.push_if(3, |e| e.map_or(false, |x| **x == 1)).is_err());
assert_eq!(queue.pop().map(|e| **e), Some(1));
assert_eq!(queue.pop().map(|e| **e), Some(2));
assert!(queue.pop().is_none());

Stack

Stack is a concurrent lock-free last-in-first-out container.

use sdd::Stack;

let stack: Stack<usize> = Stack::default();

stack.push(1);
stack.push(2);
assert_eq!(stack.pop().map(|e| **e), Some(2));
assert_eq!(stack.pop().map(|e| **e), Some(1));
assert!(stack.pop().is_none());

Changelog