Add simple facility for an extendable shared memory area (#11929)

You still need to provide a max size up-front, but memory is only
allocated for the portion that is in use.

The module is currently unused, but will be used by the new compute
communicator project, in the neon Postgres extension. See
https://github.com/neondatabase/neon/issues/11729

---------

Co-authored-by: Erik Grinaker <erik@neon.tech>

Cargo.lock

@@ -3794,6 +3794,16 @@ version = "0.8.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "e5ce46fe64a9d73be07dcbe690a38ce1b293be448fd8ce1e6c1b8062c9f72c6a"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "neon-shmem"
+version = "0.1.0"
+dependencies = [
+ "nix 0.30.1",
+ "tempfile",
+ "thiserror 1.0.69",
+ "workspace_hack",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "never-say-never"
 version = "6.6.666"
@@ -8482,6 +8492,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "log",
  "memchr",
  "nix 0.26.4",
+ "nix 0.30.1",
  "nom",
  "num",
  "num-bigint",

Cargo.toml

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ members = [
     "libs/postgres_ffi",
     "libs/safekeeper_api",
     "libs/desim",
+    "libs/neon-shmem",
     "libs/utils",
     "libs/consumption_metrics",
     "libs/postgres_backend",
@@ -127,7 +128,7 @@ md5 = "0.7.0"
 measured = { version = "0.0.22", features=["lasso"] }
 measured-process = { version = "0.0.22" }
 memoffset = "0.9"
-nix = { version = "0.30.1", features = ["dir", "fs", "process", "socket", "signal", "poll"] }
+nix = { version = "0.30.1", features = ["dir", "fs", "mman", "process", "socket", "signal", "poll"] }
 # Do not update to >= 7.0.0, at least. The update will have a significant impact
 # on compute startup metrics (start_postgres_ms), >= 25% degradation.
 notify = "6.0.0"

libs/neon-shmem/Cargo.toml

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+[package]
+name = "neon-shmem"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition.workspace = true
+license.workspace = true
+
+[dependencies]
+thiserror.workspace = true
+nix.workspace=true
+workspace_hack = { version = "0.1", path = "../../workspace_hack" }
+
+[target.'cfg(target_os = "macos")'.dependencies]
+tempfile = "3.14.0"

libs/neon-shmem/src/lib.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,418 @@
+//! Shared memory utilities for neon communicator
+
+use std::num::NonZeroUsize;
+use std::os::fd::{AsFd, BorrowedFd, OwnedFd};
+use std::ptr::NonNull;
+use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering};
+
+use nix::errno::Errno;
+use nix::sys::mman::MapFlags;
+use nix::sys::mman::ProtFlags;
+use nix::sys::mman::mmap as nix_mmap;
+use nix::sys::mman::munmap as nix_munmap;
+use nix::unistd::ftruncate as nix_ftruncate;
+
+/// ShmemHandle represents a shared memory area that can be shared by processes over fork().
+/// Unlike shared memory allocated by Postgres, this area is resizable, up to 'max_size' that's
+/// specified at creation.
+///
+/// The area is backed by an anonymous file created with memfd_create(). The full address space for
+/// 'max_size' is reserved up-front with mmap(), but whenever you call [`ShmemHandle::set_size`],
+/// the underlying file is resized. Do not access the area beyond the current size. Currently, that
+/// will cause the file to be expanded, but we might use mprotect() etc. to enforce that in the
+/// future.
+pub struct ShmemHandle {
+    /// memfd file descriptor
+    fd: OwnedFd,
+
+    max_size: usize,
+
+    // Pointer to the beginning of the shared memory area. The header is stored there.
+    shared_ptr: NonNull<SharedStruct>,
+
+    // Pointer to the beginning of the user data
+    pub data_ptr: NonNull<u8>,
+}
+
+/// This is stored at the beginning in the shared memory area.
+struct SharedStruct {
+    max_size: usize,
+
+    /// Current size of the backing file. The high-order bit is used for the RESIZE_IN_PROGRESS flag
+    current_size: AtomicUsize,
+}
+
+const RESIZE_IN_PROGRESS: usize = 1 << 63;
+
+const HEADER_SIZE: usize = std::mem::size_of::<SharedStruct>();
+
+/// Error type returned by the ShmemHandle functions.
+#[derive(thiserror::Error, Debug)]
+#[error("{msg}: {errno}")]
+pub struct Error {
+    pub msg: String,
+    pub errno: Errno,
+}
+
+impl Error {
+    fn new(msg: &str, errno: Errno) -> Error {
+        Error {
+            msg: msg.to_string(),
+            errno,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl ShmemHandle {
+    /// Create a new shared memory area. To communicate between processes, the processes need to be
+    /// fork()'d after calling this, so that the ShmemHandle is inherited by all processes.
+    ///
+    /// If the ShmemHandle is dropped, the memory is unmapped from the current process. Other
+    /// processes can continue using it, however.
+    pub fn new(name: &str, initial_size: usize, max_size: usize) -> Result<ShmemHandle, Error> {
+        // create the backing anonymous file.
+        let fd = create_backing_file(name)?;
+
+        Self::new_with_fd(fd, initial_size, max_size)
+    }
+
+    fn new_with_fd(
+        fd: OwnedFd,
+        initial_size: usize,
+        max_size: usize,
+    ) -> Result<ShmemHandle, Error> {
+        // We reserve the high-order bit for the RESIZE_IN_PROGRESS flag, and the actual size
+        // is a little larger than this because of the SharedStruct header. Make the upper limit
+        // somewhat smaller than that, because with anything close to that, you'll run out of
+        // memory anyway.
+        if max_size >= 1 << 48 {
+            panic!("max size {} too large", max_size);
+        }
+        if initial_size > max_size {
+            panic!("initial size {initial_size} larger than max size {max_size}");
+        }
+
+        // The actual initial / max size is the one given by the caller, plus the size of
+        // 'SharedStruct'.
+        let initial_size = HEADER_SIZE + initial_size;
+        let max_size = NonZeroUsize::new(HEADER_SIZE + max_size).unwrap();
+
+        // Reserve address space for it with mmap
+        //
+        // TODO: Use MAP_HUGETLB if possible
+        let start_ptr = unsafe {
+            nix_mmap(
+                None,
+                max_size,
+                ProtFlags::PROT_READ | ProtFlags::PROT_WRITE,
+                MapFlags::MAP_SHARED,
+                &fd,
+                0,
+            )
+        }
+        .map_err(|e| Error::new("mmap failed: {e}", e))?;
+
+        // Reserve space for the initial size
+        enlarge_file(fd.as_fd(), initial_size as u64)?;
+
+        // Initialize the header
+        let shared: NonNull<SharedStruct> = start_ptr.cast();
+        unsafe {
+            shared.write(SharedStruct {
+                max_size: max_size.into(),
+                current_size: AtomicUsize::new(initial_size),
+            })
+        };
+
+        // The user data begins after the header
+        let data_ptr = unsafe { start_ptr.cast().add(HEADER_SIZE) };
+
+        Ok(ShmemHandle {
+            fd,
+            max_size: max_size.into(),
+            shared_ptr: shared,
+            data_ptr,
+        })
+    }
+
+    // return reference to the header
+    fn shared(&self) -> &SharedStruct {
+        unsafe { self.shared_ptr.as_ref() }
+    }
+
+    /// Resize the shared memory area. 'new_size' must not be larger than the 'max_size' specified
+    /// when creating the area.
+    ///
+    /// This may only be called from one process/thread concurrently. We detect that case
+    /// and return an Error.
+    pub fn set_size(&self, new_size: usize) -> Result<(), Error> {
+        let new_size = new_size + HEADER_SIZE;
+        let shared = self.shared();
+
+        if new_size > self.max_size {
+            panic!(
+                "new size ({} is greater than max size ({})",
+                new_size, self.max_size
+            );
+        }
+        assert_eq!(self.max_size, shared.max_size);
+
+        // Lock the area by setting the bit in 'current_size'
+        //
+        // Ordering::Relaxed would probably be sufficient here, as we don't access any other memory
+        // and the posix_fallocate/ftruncate call is surely a synchronization point anyway. But
+        // since this is not performance-critical, better safe than sorry .
+        let mut old_size = shared.current_size.load(Ordering::Acquire);
+        loop {
+            if (old_size & RESIZE_IN_PROGRESS) != 0 {
+                return Err(Error::new(
+                    "concurrent resize detected",
+                    Errno::UnknownErrno,
+                ));
+            }
+            match shared.current_size.compare_exchange(
+                old_size,
+                new_size,
+                Ordering::Acquire,
+                Ordering::Relaxed,
+            ) {
+                Ok(_) => break,
+                Err(x) => old_size = x,
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Ok, we got the lock.
+        //
+        // NB: If anything goes wrong, we *must* clear the bit!
+        let result = {
+            use std::cmp::Ordering::{Equal, Greater, Less};
+            match new_size.cmp(&old_size) {
+                Less => nix_ftruncate(&self.fd, new_size as i64).map_err(|e| {
+                    Error::new("could not shrink shmem segment, ftruncate failed: {e}", e)
+                }),
+                Equal => Ok(()),
+                Greater => enlarge_file(self.fd.as_fd(), new_size as u64),
+            }
+        };
+
+        // Unlock
+        shared.current_size.store(
+            if result.is_ok() { new_size } else { old_size },
+            Ordering::Release,
+        );
+
+        result
+    }
+
+    /// Returns the current user-visible size of the shared memory segment.
+    ///
+    /// NOTE: a concurrent set_size() call can change the size at any time. It is the caller's
+    /// responsibility not to access the area beyond the current size.
+    pub fn current_size(&self) -> usize {
+        let total_current_size =
+            self.shared().current_size.load(Ordering::Relaxed) & !RESIZE_IN_PROGRESS;
+        total_current_size - HEADER_SIZE
+    }
+}
+
+impl Drop for ShmemHandle {
+    fn drop(&mut self) {
+        // SAFETY: The pointer was obtained from mmap() with the given size.
+        // We unmap the entire region.
+        let _ = unsafe { nix_munmap(self.shared_ptr.cast(), self.max_size) };
+        // The fd is dropped automatically by OwnedFd.
+    }
+}
+
+/// Create a "backing file" for the shared memory area. On Linux, use memfd_create(), to create an
+/// anonymous in-memory file. One macos, fall back to a regular file. That's good enough for
+/// development and testing, but in production we want the file to stay in memory.
+///
+/// disable 'unused_variables' warnings, because in the macos path, 'name' is unused.
+#[allow(unused_variables)]
+fn create_backing_file(name: &str) -> Result<OwnedFd, Error> {
+    #[cfg(not(target_os = "macos"))]
+    {
+        nix::sys::memfd::memfd_create(name, nix::sys::memfd::MFdFlags::empty())
+            .map_err(|e| Error::new("memfd_create failed: {e}", e))
+    }
+    #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
+    {
+        let file = tempfile::tempfile().map_err(|e| {
+            Error::new(
+                "could not create temporary file to back shmem area: {e}",
+                nix::errno::Errno::from_raw(e.raw_os_error().unwrap_or(0)),
+            )
+        })?;
+        Ok(OwnedFd::from(file))
+    }
+}
+
+fn enlarge_file(fd: BorrowedFd, size: u64) -> Result<(), Error> {
+    // Use posix_fallocate() to enlarge the file. It reserves the space correctly, so that
+    // we don't get a segfault later when trying to actually use it.
+    #[cfg(not(target_os = "macos"))]
+    {
+        nix::fcntl::posix_fallocate(fd, 0, size as i64).map_err(|e| {
+            Error::new(
+                "could not grow shmem segment, posix_fallocate failed: {e}",
+                e,
+            )
+        })
+    }
+    // As a fallback on macos, which doesn't have posix_fallocate, use plain 'fallocate'
+    #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
+    {
+        nix::unistd::ftruncate(fd, size as i64)
+            .map_err(|e| Error::new("could not grow shmem segment, ftruncate failed: {e}", e))
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    use nix::unistd::ForkResult;
+    use std::ops::Range;
+
+    /// check that all bytes in given range have the expected value.
+    fn assert_range(ptr: *const u8, expected: u8, range: Range<usize>) {
+        for i in range {
+            let b = unsafe { *(ptr.add(i)) };
+            assert_eq!(expected, b, "unexpected byte at offset {}", i);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Write 'b' to all bytes in the given range
+    fn write_range(ptr: *mut u8, b: u8, range: Range<usize>) {
+        unsafe { std::ptr::write_bytes(ptr.add(range.start), b, range.end - range.start) };
+    }
+
+    // simple single-process test of growing and shrinking
+    #[test]
+    fn test_shmem_resize() -> Result<(), Error> {
+        let max_size = 1024 * 1024;
+        let init_struct = ShmemHandle::new("test_shmem_resize", 0, max_size)?;
+
+        assert_eq!(init_struct.current_size(), 0);
+
+        // Initial grow
+        let size1 = 10000;
+        init_struct.set_size(size1).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(init_struct.current_size(), size1);
+
+        // Write some data
+        let data_ptr = init_struct.data_ptr.as_ptr();
+        write_range(data_ptr, 0xAA, 0..size1);
+        assert_range(data_ptr, 0xAA, 0..size1);
+
+        // Shrink
+        let size2 = 5000;
+        init_struct.set_size(size2).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(init_struct.current_size(), size2);
+
+        // Grow again
+        let size3 = 20000;
+        init_struct.set_size(size3).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(init_struct.current_size(), size3);
+
+        // Try to read it. The area that was shrunk and grown again should read as all zeros now
+        assert_range(data_ptr, 0xAA, 0..5000);
+        assert_range(data_ptr, 0, 5000..size1);
+
+        // Try to grow beyond max_size
+        //let size4 = max_size + 1;
+        //assert!(init_struct.set_size(size4).is_err());
+
+        // Dropping init_struct should unmap the memory
+        drop(init_struct);
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
+    /// This is used in tests to coordinate between test processes. It's like std::sync::Barrier,
+    /// but is stored in the shared memory area and works across processes. It's implemented by
+    /// polling, because e.g. standard rust mutexes are not guaranteed to work across processes.
+    struct SimpleBarrier {
+        num_procs: usize,
+        count: AtomicUsize,
+    }
+
+    impl SimpleBarrier {
+        unsafe fn init(ptr: *mut SimpleBarrier, num_procs: usize) {
+            unsafe {
+                *ptr = SimpleBarrier {
+                    num_procs,
+                    count: AtomicUsize::new(0),
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        pub fn wait(&self) {
+            let old = self.count.fetch_add(1, Ordering::Relaxed);
+
+            let generation = old / self.num_procs;
+
+            let mut current = old + 1;
+            while current < (generation + 1) * self.num_procs {
+                std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(10));
+                current = self.count.load(Ordering::Relaxed);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_multi_process() {
+        // Initialize
+        let max_size = 1_000_000_000_000;
+        let init_struct = ShmemHandle::new("test_multi_process", 0, max_size).unwrap();
+        let ptr = init_struct.data_ptr.as_ptr();
+
+        // Store the SimpleBarrier in the first 1k of the area.
+        init_struct.set_size(10000).unwrap();
+        let barrier_ptr: *mut SimpleBarrier = unsafe {
+            ptr.add(ptr.align_offset(std::mem::align_of::<SimpleBarrier>()))
+                .cast()
+        };
+        unsafe { SimpleBarrier::init(barrier_ptr, 2) };
+        let barrier = unsafe { barrier_ptr.as_ref().unwrap() };
+
+        // Fork another test process. The code after this runs in both processes concurrently.
+        let fork_result = unsafe { nix::unistd::fork().unwrap() };
+
+        // In the parent, fill bytes between 1000..2000. In the child, between 2000..3000
+        if fork_result.is_parent() {
+            write_range(ptr, 0xAA, 1000..2000);
+        } else {
+            write_range(ptr, 0xBB, 2000..3000);
+        }
+        barrier.wait();
+        // Verify the contents. (in both processes)
+        assert_range(ptr, 0xAA, 1000..2000);
+        assert_range(ptr, 0xBB, 2000..3000);
+
+        // Grow, from the child this time
+        let size = 10_000_000;
+        if !fork_result.is_parent() {
+            init_struct.set_size(size).unwrap();
+        }
+        barrier.wait();
+
+        // make some writes at the end
+        if fork_result.is_parent() {
+            write_range(ptr, 0xAA, (size - 10)..size);
+        } else {
+            write_range(ptr, 0xBB, (size - 20)..(size - 10));
+        }
+        barrier.wait();
+
+        // Verify the contents. (This runs in both processes)
+        assert_range(ptr, 0, (size - 1000)..(size - 20));
+        assert_range(ptr, 0xBB, (size - 20)..(size - 10));
+        assert_range(ptr, 0xAA, (size - 10)..size);
+
+        if let ForkResult::Parent { child } = fork_result {
+            nix::sys::wait::waitpid(child, None).unwrap();
+        }
+    }
+}

workspace_hack/Cargo.toml

@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ lazy_static = { version = "1", default-features = false, features = ["spin_no_st
 libc = { version = "0.2", features = ["extra_traits", "use_std"] }
 log = { version = "0.4", default-features = false, features = ["std"] }
 memchr = { version = "2" }
-nix = { version = "0.26" }
+nix-2f80eeee3b1b6c7e = { package = "nix", version = "0.26" }
+nix-fa1f6196edfd7249 = { package = "nix", version = "0.30", features = ["dir", "ioctl", "mman", "poll", "signal", "socket"] }
 nom = { version = "7" }
 num = { version = "0.4" }
 num-bigint = { version = "0.4" }