graphene/LibOS/shim/src/ipc/shim_ipc_helper.c

/* Copyright (C) 2014 Stony Brook University
   This file is part of Graphene Library OS.

   Graphene Library OS is free software: you can redistribute it and/or
   modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License
   as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
   License, or (at your option) any later version.

   Graphene Library OS is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
   GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.

   You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
   along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */

/*
 * shim_ipc_helper.c
 *
 * This file contains code to create an IPC helper thread inside library OS
 * and maintain bookkeeping of IPC ports.
 */

#include <shim_internal.h>
#include <shim_utils.h>
#include <shim_thread.h>
#include <shim_handle.h>
#include <shim_ipc.h>
#include <shim_checkpoint.h>
#include <shim_profile.h>

#include <pal.h>
#include <pal_error.h>
#include <list.h>

#define IPC_HELPER_STACK_SIZE (allocsize * 4)

#define PORT_MGR_ALLOC  32
#define PAGE_SIZE       allocsize
#define OBJ_TYPE struct shim_ipc_port
#include "memmgr.h"
static MEM_MGR port_mgr;

DEFINE_LISTP(shim_ipc_port);
static LISTP_TYPE(shim_ipc_port) port_list;

/* can be read without ipc_helper_lock but always written with lock held */
static enum {  HELPER_NOTALIVE, HELPER_ALIVE } ipc_helper_state;

static struct shim_thread* ipc_helper_thread;
static struct shim_lock    ipc_helper_lock;

static AEVENTTYPE install_new_event;

static int create_ipc_helper(void);
static int ipc_resp_callback(struct shim_ipc_msg* msg, struct shim_ipc_port* port);

static ipc_callback ipc_callbacks[IPC_CODE_NUM] = {
    /* RESP             */  &ipc_resp_callback,
    /* CHECKPOINT       */  &ipc_checkpoint_callback,

    /* parents and children */
    /* CLD_EXIT         */  &ipc_cld_exit_callback,
    /* CLD_JOIN         */  &ipc_cld_join_callback,
#ifdef PROFILE
    /* CLD_PROFILE      */  &ipc_cld_profile_callback,
#endif

    /* pid namespace */
    IPC_NS_CALLBACKS(pid)
    /* PID_KILL         */  &ipc_pid_kill_callback,
    /* PID_GETSTATUS    */  &ipc_pid_getstatus_callback,
    /* PID_RETSTATUS    */  &ipc_pid_retstatus_callback,
    /* PID_GETMETA      */  &ipc_pid_getmeta_callback,
    /* PID_RETMETA      */  &ipc_pid_retmeta_callback,
    /* PID_NOP          */  &ipc_pid_nop_callback,
    /* PID_SENDRPC      */  &ipc_pid_sendrpc_callback,

    /* sysv namespace */
    IPC_NS_CALLBACKS(sysv)
    IPC_NS_KEY_CALLBACKS(sysv)
    /* SYSV_DELRES      */  &ipc_sysv_delres_callback,
    /* SYSV_MOVRES      */  &ipc_sysv_movres_callback,
    /* SYSV_MSGSND      */  &ipc_sysv_msgsnd_callback,
    /* SYSV_MSGRCV      */  &ipc_sysv_msgrcv_callback,
    /* SYSV_MSGMOV      */  &ipc_sysv_msgmov_callback,
    /* SYSV_SEMOP       */  &ipc_sysv_semop_callback,
    /* SYSV_SEMCTL      */  &ipc_sysv_semctl_callback,
    /* SYSV_SEMRET      */  &ipc_sysv_semret_callback,
    /* SYSV_SEMMOV      */  &ipc_sysv_semmov_callback,
};

static int init_ipc_port(struct shim_ipc_info* info, PAL_HANDLE hdl, IDTYPE type) {
    if (!info)
        return 0;

    if (info->pal_handle == IPC_FORCE_RECONNECT) {
        info->pal_handle = NULL;
        if (!hdl && !qstrempty(&info->uri)) {
            debug("Reconnecting IPC port %s\n", qstrgetstr(&info->uri));
            hdl = DkStreamOpen(qstrgetstr(&info->uri), 0, 0, 0, 0);
            if (!hdl)
                return -PAL_ERRNO;
        }
        info->pal_handle = hdl;
    }

    if (!info->pal_handle)
        info->pal_handle = hdl;

    if (info->pal_handle)
        add_ipc_port_by_id(info->vmid == cur_process.vmid ? 0 : info->vmid,
                           info->pal_handle, type, NULL, &info->port);
    return 0;
}

int init_ipc_ports(void) {
    int ret = 0;

    if (!(port_mgr = create_mem_mgr(init_align_up(PORT_MGR_ALLOC))))
        return -ENOMEM;

    if ((ret = init_ipc_port(cur_process.self, NULL, IPC_PORT_SERVER)) < 0)
        return ret;
    if (PAL_CB(parent_process) &&
        (ret = init_ipc_port(cur_process.parent, PAL_CB(parent_process),
                             IPC_PORT_DIRPRT|IPC_PORT_LISTEN)) < 0)
        return ret;
    if ((ret = init_ipc_port(cur_process.ns[PID_NS], NULL,
                             IPC_PORT_PIDLDR|IPC_PORT_LISTEN)) < 0)
        return ret;
    if ((ret = init_ipc_port(cur_process.ns[SYSV_NS], NULL,
                             IPC_PORT_SYSVLDR|IPC_PORT_LISTEN)) < 0)
        return ret;

    return 0;
}


int init_ipc_helper(void) {
    /* early enough in init, can write global vars without the lock */
    ipc_helper_state = HELPER_NOTALIVE;
    create_lock(&ipc_helper_lock);
    create_event(&install_new_event);

    /* some IPC ports were already added before this point, so spawn IPC
     * helper thread (and enable locking mechanisms if not done already
     * since we are going in multi-threaded mode) */
    enable_locking();
    lock(&ipc_helper_lock);
    create_ipc_helper();
    unlock(&ipc_helper_lock);

    return 0;
}

static struct shim_ipc_port* __create_ipc_port(PAL_HANDLE hdl) {
    struct shim_ipc_port* port =
        get_mem_obj_from_mgr_enlarge(port_mgr, size_align_up(PORT_MGR_ALLOC));
    if (!port)
        return NULL;

    memset(port, 0, sizeof(struct shim_ipc_port));
    port->pal_handle = hdl;
    INIT_LIST_HEAD(port, list);
    INIT_LISTP(&port->msgs);
    REF_SET(port->ref_count, 0);
    create_lock(&port->msgs_lock);
    return port;
}

static void __free_ipc_port(struct shim_ipc_port* port) {
    if (port->pal_handle) {
        DkObjectClose(port->pal_handle);
        port->pal_handle = NULL;
    }

    destroy_lock(&port->msgs_lock);
    free_mem_obj_to_mgr(port_mgr, port);
}

static void __get_ipc_port(struct shim_ipc_port* port) {
    REF_INC(port->ref_count);
}

static void __put_ipc_port(struct shim_ipc_port* port) {
    int ref_count = REF_DEC(port->ref_count);
    if (!ref_count)
        __free_ipc_port(port);
}

void get_ipc_port(struct shim_ipc_port* port) {
    /* no need to grab ipc_helper_lock because __get_ipc_port() is atomic */
    __get_ipc_port(port);
}

void put_ipc_port(struct shim_ipc_port* port) {
    /* this is atomic so we don't grab lock in common case of ref_count > 0 */
    int ref_count = REF_DEC(port->ref_count);

    if (!ref_count) {
        lock(&ipc_helper_lock);
        __free_ipc_port(port);
        unlock(&ipc_helper_lock);
    }
}

static void __add_ipc_port(struct shim_ipc_port* port, IDTYPE vmid,
                           IDTYPE type, port_fini fini) {
    assert(vmid != cur_process.vmid); /* no sense in IPCing myself */

    port->type |= type;
    if (vmid && !port->vmid)
        port->vmid = vmid;

    /* find empty slot in fini callbacks and register callback */
    if (fini) {
        for (int i = 0; i < MAX_IPC_PORT_FINI_CB; i++)
            if (!port->fini[i] || port->fini[i] == fini) {
                port->fini[i] = fini;
                break;
            }
    }

    /* add to port list if not there already */
    if (LIST_EMPTY(port, list)) {
        __get_ipc_port(port);
        LISTP_ADD(port, &port_list, list);
    }

    /* wake up IPC helper thread so that it picks up added port */
    if (ipc_helper_state == HELPER_ALIVE)
        set_event(&install_new_event, 1);
}

static void __del_ipc_port(struct shim_ipc_port* port) {
    debug("Deleting port %p (handle %p) of process %u\n",
          port, port->pal_handle, port->vmid & 0xFFFF);

    DkStreamDelete(port->pal_handle, 0);
    LISTP_DEL_INIT(port, &port_list, list);

    /* Check for pending messages on port (threads might be blocking for responses) */
    lock(&port->msgs_lock);
    struct shim_ipc_msg_duplex* msg;
    struct shim_ipc_msg_duplex* tmp;
    LISTP_FOR_EACH_ENTRY_SAFE(msg, tmp, &port->msgs, list) {
        LISTP_DEL_INIT(msg, &port->msgs, list);
        msg->retval = -ECONNRESET;
        if (msg->thread) {
            debug("Deleted pending message on port %p, wake up blocking thread %d\n",
                    port, msg->thread->tid);
            thread_wakeup(msg->thread);
        }
    }
    unlock(&port->msgs_lock);

    __put_ipc_port(port);

    /* wake up IPC helper thread so that it forgets about deleted port */
    if (ipc_helper_state == HELPER_ALIVE)
        set_event(&install_new_event, 1);
}

void add_ipc_port(struct shim_ipc_port* port, IDTYPE vmid, IDTYPE type, port_fini fini) {
    debug("Adding port %p (handle %p) for process %u (type=%04x)\n",
          port, port->pal_handle, port->vmid & 0xFFFF, type);

    lock(&ipc_helper_lock);
    __add_ipc_port(port, vmid, type, fini);
    unlock(&ipc_helper_lock);
}

void add_ipc_port_by_id(IDTYPE vmid, PAL_HANDLE hdl, IDTYPE type,
                        port_fini fini, struct shim_ipc_port** portptr) {
    debug("Adding port (handle %p) for process %u (type %04x)\n",
            hdl, vmid & 0xFFFF, type);

    struct shim_ipc_port* port = NULL;
    if (portptr)
        *portptr = NULL;

    assert(hdl && PAL_GET_TYPE(hdl));
    lock(&ipc_helper_lock);

    /* check if port with this PAL handle already exists, then we only
     * need to update its vmid, type, and fini callback */
    struct shim_ipc_port* tmp;
    LISTP_FOR_EACH_ENTRY(tmp, &port_list, list)
        if (tmp->pal_handle == hdl) {
            port = tmp;
            break;
        }

    if (!port) {
        /* port does not yet exist, create it */
        port = __create_ipc_port(hdl);
        if (!port) {
            debug("Failed to create IPC port for handle %p\n", hdl);
            goto out;
        }
    }

    /* add/update port */
    __add_ipc_port(port, vmid, type, fini);

    if (portptr) {
        __get_ipc_port(port);
        *portptr = port;
    }

out:
    unlock(&ipc_helper_lock);
}

void del_ipc_port_fini(struct shim_ipc_port* port, unsigned int exitcode) {
    lock(&ipc_helper_lock);

    if (LIST_EMPTY(port, list)) {
        unlock(&ipc_helper_lock);
        return;
    }

    /* prevent __del_ipc_port() from freeing port since we need it for fini callbacks */
    __get_ipc_port(port);
    __del_ipc_port(port);

    unlock(&ipc_helper_lock);

    for (int i = 0; i < MAX_IPC_PORT_FINI_CB; i++)
        if (port->fini[i])
            (port->fini[i])(port, port->vmid, exitcode);

    __put_ipc_port(port);
}

void del_all_ipc_ports(void) {
    lock(&ipc_helper_lock);

    struct shim_ipc_port* port;
    struct shim_ipc_port* tmp;
    LISTP_FOR_EACH_ENTRY_SAFE(port, tmp, &port_list, list)
        __del_ipc_port(port);

    unlock(&ipc_helper_lock);
}

struct shim_ipc_port* lookup_ipc_port(IDTYPE vmid, IDTYPE type) {
    struct shim_ipc_port* port = NULL;

    assert(vmid && type);
    lock(&ipc_helper_lock);

    struct shim_ipc_port* tmp;
    LISTP_FOR_EACH_ENTRY(tmp, &port_list, list) {
        if (tmp->vmid == vmid && (tmp->type & type)) {
            debug("found port %p (handle %p) for process %u (type %04x)\n",
                  tmp, tmp->pal_handle, tmp->vmid & 0xFFFF, tmp->type);
            port = tmp;
            __get_ipc_port(port);
            break;
        }
    }

    unlock(&ipc_helper_lock);
    return port;
}

int broadcast_ipc(struct shim_ipc_msg* msg, int target_type, struct shim_ipc_port* exclude_port) {
    int ret;
    struct shim_ipc_port* port;
    struct shim_ipc_port** target_ports;
    int target_ports_cnt = 0;

    assert(target_type);
    lock(&ipc_helper_lock);

    /* Collect all ports with appropriate types. In common case, stack-allocated
     * array of 32 ports is enough. If there are more ports, we will allocate
     * a bigger array on the heap and collect all ports again. */
    struct shim_ipc_port* target_ports_stack[32];
    LISTP_FOR_EACH_ENTRY(port, &port_list, list) {
        if (port == exclude_port)
            continue;
        if (port->type & target_type) {
            if (target_ports_cnt < 32)
                target_ports_stack[target_ports_cnt] = port;
            target_ports_cnt++;
        }
    }
    target_ports = target_ports_stack;

    if (target_ports_cnt > 32) {
        /* Rare case when there are more than 32 ports. Allocate big-enough
         * array on the heap and collect all ports again. */
        int cnt = 0;
        struct shim_ipc_port** target_ports_heap =
            malloc(sizeof(struct shim_ipc_port *) * target_ports_cnt);

        LISTP_FOR_EACH_ENTRY(port, &port_list, list) {
            if (port == exclude_port)
                continue;
            if (port->type & target_type)
                target_ports_heap[cnt++] = port;
        }
        target_ports = target_ports_heap;
        assert(cnt == target_ports_cnt);
    }

    unlock(&ipc_helper_lock);

    for (int i = 0; i < target_ports_cnt; i++)
        get_ipc_port(target_ports[i]);

    /* send msg to each collected port (note that ports cannot be freed in meantime) */
    for (int i = 0; i < target_ports_cnt; i++) {
        port = target_ports[i];

        debug("Broadcast to port %p (handle %p) for process %u (type %x, target %x)\n",
              port, port->pal_handle, port->vmid & 0xFFFF, port->type, target_type);

        msg->dst = port->vmid;
        ret = send_ipc_message(msg, port);
        if (ret < 0) {
            debug("Broadcast to port %p (handle %p) for process %u failed (errno = %d)!\n",
                    port, port->pal_handle, port->vmid & 0xFFFF, ret);
            goto out;
        }
    }

    ret = 0;
out:
    for (int i = 0; i < target_ports_cnt; i++)
        put_ipc_port(target_ports[i]);
    if (target_ports != target_ports_stack)
        free(target_ports);
    return ret;
}

static int ipc_resp_callback(struct shim_ipc_msg* msg, struct shim_ipc_port* port) {
    struct shim_ipc_resp* resp = (struct shim_ipc_resp*) &msg->msg;
    debug("IPC callback from %u: IPC_RESP(%d)\n", msg->src & 0xFFFF, resp->retval);

    if (!msg->seq)
        return resp->retval;

    /* find a corresponding request msg for this response msg */
    struct shim_ipc_msg_duplex* req_msg = pop_ipc_msg_duplex(port, msg->seq);

    /* if some thread waits for response, wake it up with response retval */
    if (req_msg) {
        req_msg->retval = resp->retval;
        if (req_msg->thread)
            thread_wakeup(req_msg->thread);
        return 0;
    }

    return resp->retval;
}

int send_response_ipc_message(struct shim_ipc_port* port, IDTYPE dest, int ret, uint64_t seq) {
    ret = (ret == RESPONSE_CALLBACK) ? 0 : ret;

    /* create IPC_RESP msg to send to dest, with sequence number seq, and in-body retval ret */
    size_t total_msg_size = get_ipc_msg_size(sizeof(struct shim_ipc_resp));
    struct shim_ipc_msg* resp_msg = __alloca(total_msg_size);
    init_ipc_msg(resp_msg, IPC_RESP, total_msg_size, dest);
    resp_msg->seq = seq;

    struct shim_ipc_resp* resp = (struct shim_ipc_resp *) resp_msg->msg;
    resp->retval = ret;

    debug("IPC send to %u: IPC_RESP(%d)\n", resp_msg->dst & 0xFFFF, ret);
    return send_ipc_message(resp_msg, port);
}

static int receive_ipc_message(struct shim_ipc_port* port) {
    int ret;
    int readahead = IPC_MSG_MINIMAL_SIZE * 2;
    int bufsize = IPC_MSG_MINIMAL_SIZE + readahead;

    struct shim_ipc_msg* msg = malloc(bufsize);
    int expected_size = IPC_MSG_MINIMAL_SIZE;
    int bytes = 0;

    do {
        while (bytes < expected_size) {
            /* grow msg buffer to accomodate bigger messages */
            if (expected_size + readahead > bufsize) {
                while (expected_size + readahead > bufsize)
                    bufsize *= 2;
                void* tmp_buf = malloc(bufsize);
                memcpy(tmp_buf, msg, bytes);
                free(msg);
                msg = tmp_buf;
            }

            /* TODO: Add while-loop to receive all msg */
            int read = DkStreamRead(port->pal_handle, /*offset*/ 0, expected_size - bytes + readahead,
                                     (void *) msg + bytes, NULL, 0);

            if (read == 0) {
                /* TODO: Handle benign EINTR case? */
                debug("Port %p (handle %p) closed while receiving IPC message\n", port, port->pal_handle);
                del_ipc_port_fini(port, -ECHILD);
                ret = -PAL_ERRNO;
                goto out;
            }

            bytes += read;

            /* extract actual msg size from msg header and continue reading msg body */
            if (bytes >= IPC_MSG_MINIMAL_SIZE)
                expected_size = msg->size;
        }

        debug("Received IPC message from port %p (handle %p): code=%d size=%lu src=%u dst=%u seq=%lx\n",
              port, port->pal_handle, msg->code, msg->size, msg->src & 0xFFFF, msg->dst & 0xFFFF, msg->seq);

        /* skip messages coming from myself (in case of broadcast) */
        if (msg->src != cur_process.vmid) {
            if (msg->code < IPC_CODE_NUM && ipc_callbacks[msg->code]) {
                /* invoke callback to this msg */
                ret = (*ipc_callbacks[msg->code]) (msg, port);
                if ((ret < 0 || ret == RESPONSE_CALLBACK) && msg->seq) {
                    /* send IPC_RESP message to sender of this msg */
                    ret = send_response_ipc_message(port, msg->src, ret, msg->seq);
                    if (ret < 0) {
                        debug("Sending IPC_RESP msg on port %p (handle %p) to %u failed\n",
                                port, port->pal_handle, msg->src & 0xFFFF);
                        ret = -PAL_ERRNO;
                        goto out;
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        bytes -= expected_size; /* one message was received and handled */

        if (bytes > 0) {
            /* we may have started reading the next message, move this message
             * to beginning of msg buffer and reset expected size */
            memmove(msg, (void *) msg + expected_size, bytes);
            expected_size = IPC_MSG_MINIMAL_SIZE;
            if (bytes >= IPC_MSG_MINIMAL_SIZE)
                expected_size = msg->size;
        }
    } while (bytes > 0);

    ret = 0;
out:
    free(msg);
    return ret;
}

/* Main routine of the IPC helper thread. IPC helper thread is spawned when
 * the first IPC port is added and is terminated only when the whole Graphene
 * application terminates. IPC helper thread runs in an endless loop and waits
 * on port events (either the addition/removal of ports or actual port events:
 * acceptance of new client or receiving/sending messages). In particular,
 * IPC helper thread calls receive_ipc_message() if a message arrives on port.
 *
 * Other threads add and remove IPC ports via add_ipc_xxx() and del_ipc_xxx()
 * functions. These ports are added to port_list which the IPC helper thread
 * consults before each new DkObjectsWaitAny().
 *
 * Note that ports are copied from global port_list to local object_list. This
 * is because ports may be removed from port_list by other threads while IPC
 * helper thread is waiting on DkObjectsWaitAny(). For this reason IPC thread
 * also get references to all current ports and puts them after handling all
 * ports in object_list.
 *
 * Previous implementation went to great lengths to keep changes to the list of
 * current ports to a minimum (instead of repopulating the list before each wait
 * like in current code). Unfortunately, this resulted in undue complexity.
 * Current implementation should perform fine for usual case of <100 IPC ports
 * and with IPC helper thread always running in background on its own core.
 */
noreturn static void shim_ipc_helper(void* dummy) {
    __UNUSED(dummy);
    struct shim_thread* self = get_cur_thread();

    PAL_HANDLE polled = NULL;

    /* Initialize two lists:
     * - object_list collects IPC port objects and is the main handled list
     * - palhandle_list collects corresponding PAL handles of IPC port objects
     *   and is needed for DkObjectsWaitAny(.., <arrya-of-PAL-handles>, ..)
     *   interface; palhandle_list always contains at least install_new_event
     *
     * We allocate these two lists on the heap so they do not overflow the
     * limited PAL stack. We grow them at runtime if needed.
     */
    size_t object_list_size = 0;
    size_t object_list_maxsize = 32;
    struct shim_ipc_port** object_list =
            malloc(sizeof(struct shim_ipc_port *) * object_list_maxsize);
    PAL_HANDLE* palhandle_list =
            malloc(sizeof(PAL_HANDLE) * (1 + object_list_maxsize));

    PAL_HANDLE install_new_event_hdl = event_handle(&install_new_event);
    palhandle_list[0] = install_new_event_hdl;

    while (ipc_helper_state == HELPER_ALIVE) {
        struct shim_ipc_port* polled_port = NULL;

        if (polled == install_new_event_hdl) {
            /* some thread wants to install new event; this event is found
             * in object_list below, so just re-init install_new_event */
            debug("New IPC event was requested (port was added/removed)\n");
            clear_event(&install_new_event);
        } else {
            /* it is not install_new_event handle, so must be one of ports */
            for (size_t i = 0; i < object_list_size; i++)
                if (polled == object_list[i]->pal_handle) {
                    polled_port = object_list[i];
                    break;
                }
        }

        if (polled_port) {
            if (polled_port->type & IPC_PORT_SERVER) {
                /* if polled port is server port, accept a client,
                 * create client port, and add it to port list */
                PAL_HANDLE client = DkStreamWaitForClient(polled_port->pal_handle);
                if (client) {
                    /* type of client port is the same as original server port
                     * but with LISTEN (for remote client) and without SERVER
                     * (this port doesn't wait for new clients) */
                    IDTYPE client_type = (polled_port->type & ~IPC_PORT_SERVER) | IPC_PORT_LISTEN;
                    add_ipc_port_by_id(polled_port->vmid, client, client_type, NULL, NULL);
                } else {
                    debug("Port %p (handle %p) was removed during accepting client\n",
                            polled_port, polled_port->pal_handle);
                    del_ipc_port_fini(polled_port, -ECHILD);
                }
            } else {
                PAL_STREAM_ATTR attr;
                if (DkStreamAttributesQueryByHandle(polled_port->pal_handle, &attr)) {
                    /* can read on this port, so receive messages */
                    if (attr.readable) {
                        /* TODO: IPC helper thread does not handle failures currently */
                        receive_ipc_message(polled_port);
                    }

                    if (attr.disconnected) {
                        debug("Port %p (handle %p) disconnected\n",
                                polled_port, polled_port->pal_handle);
                        del_ipc_port_fini(polled_port, -ECONNRESET);
                    }
                } else {
                    debug("Port %p (handle %p) was removed during attr querying\n",
                            polled_port, polled_port->pal_handle);
                    del_ipc_port_fini(polled_port, -PAL_ERRNO);
                }
            }
        }

        /* done handling ports; put their references so they can be freed */
        for (size_t i = 0; i < object_list_size; i++) {
            struct shim_ipc_port* port = object_list[i];
            put_ipc_port(port);
        }

        lock(&ipc_helper_lock);

        /* iterate through all ports to repopulate object_list */
        object_list_size = 0;
        struct shim_ipc_port* port;
        struct shim_ipc_port* tmp;
        LISTP_FOR_EACH_ENTRY_SAFE(port, tmp, &port_list, list) {
            /* get port reference so it is not freed while we wait on/handle it */
            __get_ipc_port(port);

            /* grow object_list and palhandle_list to accomodate more objects */
            if (object_list_size == object_list_maxsize) {
                struct shim_ipc_port** tmp_array = malloc(
                        sizeof(struct shim_ipc_port *) * (object_list_maxsize * 2));
                PAL_HANDLE* tmp_pal_array = malloc(
                        sizeof(PAL_HANDLE) * (1 + object_list_maxsize * 2));
                memcpy(tmp_array, object_list,
                        sizeof(struct shim_ipc_port *) * (object_list_maxsize));
                memcpy(tmp_pal_array, palhandle_list,
                        sizeof(PAL_HANDLE) * (1 + object_list_size));
                object_list_maxsize *= 2;
                free(object_list);
                free(palhandle_list);
                object_list    = tmp_array;
                palhandle_list = tmp_pal_array;
            }

            /* re-add this port to object_list and palhandle_list */
            object_list[object_list_size]        = port;
            palhandle_list[object_list_size + 1] = port->pal_handle;
            object_list_size++;

            debug("Listening to process %u on port %p (handle %p, type %04x)\n",
                  port->vmid & 0xFFFF, port, port->pal_handle, port->type);
        }

        unlock(&ipc_helper_lock);

        /* wait on collected ports' PAL handles + install_new_event_hdl */
        polled = DkObjectsWaitAny(object_list_size + 1, palhandle_list, NO_TIMEOUT);
        /* ensure that while loop breaks on ipc_helper_state change */
        COMPILER_BARRIER();
    }

    /* IPC thread exits; put acquired port references so they can be freed */
    for (size_t i = 0; i < object_list_size; i++) {
        struct shim_ipc_port* port = object_list[i];
        put_ipc_port(port);
    }

    free(object_list);
    free(palhandle_list);

    lock(&ipc_helper_lock);
    ipc_helper_state = HELPER_NOTALIVE;
    ipc_helper_thread = NULL;
    unlock(&ipc_helper_lock);
    put_thread(self);
    debug("IPC helper thread terminated\n");

    DkThreadExit();
}

static void shim_ipc_helper_prepare(void* arg) {
    struct shim_thread * self = (struct shim_thread *) arg;
    if (!arg)
        return;

    __libc_tcb_t tcb;
    allocate_tls(&tcb, false, self);
    debug_setbuf(&tcb.shim_tcb, true);
    debug("Set tcb to %p\n", &tcb);

    lock(&ipc_helper_lock);
    bool notme = (self != ipc_helper_thread);
    unlock(&ipc_helper_lock);

    void* stack = allocate_stack(IPC_HELPER_STACK_SIZE, allocsize, false);

    if (notme || !stack) {
        put_thread(self);
        DkThreadExit();
        return;
    }

    debug("IPC helper thread started\n");

    /* swap stack to be sure we don't drain the small stack PAL provides */
    self->stack_top = stack + IPC_HELPER_STACK_SIZE;
    self->stack = stack;
    __SWITCH_STACK(self->stack_top, shim_ipc_helper, NULL);
}

/* this should be called with the ipc_helper_lock held */
static int create_ipc_helper(void) {
    if (ipc_helper_state == HELPER_ALIVE)
        return 0;

    struct shim_thread * new = get_new_internal_thread();
    if (!new)
        return -ENOMEM;

    ipc_helper_thread = new;
    ipc_helper_state = HELPER_ALIVE;

    PAL_HANDLE handle = thread_create(shim_ipc_helper_prepare, new);

    if (!handle) {
        ipc_helper_thread = NULL;
        ipc_helper_state = HELPER_NOTALIVE;
        put_thread(new);
        return -PAL_ERRNO;
    }

    new->pal_handle = handle;
    return 0;
}

/* On success, the reference to ipc helper thread is returned with refcount
 * incremented. It is the responsibility of caller to wait for ipc helper's
 * exit and then release the final reference to free related resources (it is
 * problematic for the thread itself to release its own resources e.g. stack).
 */
struct shim_thread* terminate_ipc_helper(void) {
    if (ipc_helper_state != HELPER_ALIVE)
        return NULL;

    /* NOTE: Graphene doesn't have an abstraction of a queue of pending signals
     * between communicating processes (instead all communication is done over
     * streams). Thus, app code like this (found in e.g. Lmbench's bw_unix):
     *     kill(child, SIGKILL);
     *     exit(0);
     * results in a data race between the SIGKILL message sent over IPC stream
     * and the parent process exiting. In the worst case, the parent will exit
     * before the SIGKILL message goes through the host-OS stream, the host OS
     * will close the stream, and the message will never be seen by child. To
     * prevent such cases, we simply wait for a bit before exiting.
     * */
    debug("Waiting for 0.5s for all in-flight IPC messages to reach their destinations\n");
    DkThreadDelayExecution(500);

    lock(&ipc_helper_lock);
    struct shim_thread* ret = ipc_helper_thread;
    if (ret)
        get_thread(ret);
    ipc_helper_state = HELPER_NOTALIVE;
    unlock(&ipc_helper_lock);

    /* force wake up of ipc helper thread so that it exits */
    set_event(&install_new_event, 1);
    return ret;
}