src/hotspot/share/gc/shared/cardTableRS.cpp
changeset 47216 71c04702a3d5
parent 46321 640277633c23
child 47580 96392e113a0a
--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/gc/shared/cardTableRS.cpp	Tue Sep 12 19:03:39 2017 +0200
@@ -0,0 +1,645 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2001, 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
+ *
+ * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ * This code 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 General Public License
+ * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
+ * accompanied this code).
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
+ * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+ * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+ *
+ * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
+ * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
+ * questions.
+ *
+ */
+
+#include "precompiled.hpp"
+#include "gc/shared/cardTableRS.hpp"
+#include "gc/shared/genCollectedHeap.hpp"
+#include "gc/shared/generation.hpp"
+#include "gc/shared/space.inline.hpp"
+#include "memory/allocation.inline.hpp"
+#include "oops/oop.inline.hpp"
+#include "runtime/atomic.hpp"
+#include "runtime/java.hpp"
+#include "runtime/os.hpp"
+#include "utilities/macros.hpp"
+
+class HasAccumulatedModifiedOopsClosure : public KlassClosure {
+  bool _found;
+ public:
+  HasAccumulatedModifiedOopsClosure() : _found(false) {}
+  void do_klass(Klass* klass) {
+    if (_found) {
+      return;
+    }
+
+    if (klass->has_accumulated_modified_oops()) {
+      _found = true;
+    }
+  }
+  bool found() {
+    return _found;
+  }
+};
+
+bool KlassRemSet::mod_union_is_clear() {
+  HasAccumulatedModifiedOopsClosure closure;
+  ClassLoaderDataGraph::classes_do(&closure);
+
+  return !closure.found();
+}
+
+
+class ClearKlassModUnionClosure : public KlassClosure {
+ public:
+  void do_klass(Klass* klass) {
+    if (klass->has_accumulated_modified_oops()) {
+      klass->clear_accumulated_modified_oops();
+    }
+  }
+};
+
+void KlassRemSet::clear_mod_union() {
+  ClearKlassModUnionClosure closure;
+  ClassLoaderDataGraph::classes_do(&closure);
+}
+
+CardTableRS::CardTableRS(MemRegion whole_heap) :
+  _bs(NULL),
+  _cur_youngergen_card_val(youngergenP1_card)
+{
+  _ct_bs = new CardTableModRefBSForCTRS(whole_heap);
+  _ct_bs->initialize();
+  set_bs(_ct_bs);
+  // max_gens is really GenCollectedHeap::heap()->gen_policy()->number_of_generations()
+  // (which is always 2, young & old), but GenCollectedHeap has not been initialized yet.
+  uint max_gens = 2;
+  _last_cur_val_in_gen = NEW_C_HEAP_ARRAY3(jbyte, max_gens + 1,
+                         mtGC, CURRENT_PC, AllocFailStrategy::RETURN_NULL);
+  if (_last_cur_val_in_gen == NULL) {
+    vm_exit_during_initialization("Could not create last_cur_val_in_gen array.");
+  }
+  for (uint i = 0; i < max_gens + 1; i++) {
+    _last_cur_val_in_gen[i] = clean_card_val();
+  }
+  _ct_bs->set_CTRS(this);
+}
+
+CardTableRS::~CardTableRS() {
+  if (_ct_bs) {
+    delete _ct_bs;
+    _ct_bs = NULL;
+  }
+  if (_last_cur_val_in_gen) {
+    FREE_C_HEAP_ARRAY(jbyte, _last_cur_val_in_gen);
+  }
+}
+
+void CardTableRS::resize_covered_region(MemRegion new_region) {
+  _ct_bs->resize_covered_region(new_region);
+}
+
+jbyte CardTableRS::find_unused_youngergenP_card_value() {
+  for (jbyte v = youngergenP1_card;
+       v < cur_youngergen_and_prev_nonclean_card;
+       v++) {
+    bool seen = false;
+    for (int g = 0; g < _regions_to_iterate; g++) {
+      if (_last_cur_val_in_gen[g] == v) {
+        seen = true;
+        break;
+      }
+    }
+    if (!seen) {
+      return v;
+    }
+  }
+  ShouldNotReachHere();
+  return 0;
+}
+
+void CardTableRS::prepare_for_younger_refs_iterate(bool parallel) {
+  // Parallel or sequential, we must always set the prev to equal the
+  // last one written.
+  if (parallel) {
+    // Find a parallel value to be used next.
+    jbyte next_val = find_unused_youngergenP_card_value();
+    set_cur_youngergen_card_val(next_val);
+
+  } else {
+    // In an sequential traversal we will always write youngergen, so that
+    // the inline barrier is  correct.
+    set_cur_youngergen_card_val(youngergen_card);
+  }
+}
+
+void CardTableRS::younger_refs_iterate(Generation* g,
+                                       OopsInGenClosure* blk,
+                                       uint n_threads) {
+  // The indexing in this array is slightly odd. We want to access
+  // the old generation record here, which is at index 2.
+  _last_cur_val_in_gen[2] = cur_youngergen_card_val();
+  g->younger_refs_iterate(blk, n_threads);
+}
+
+inline bool ClearNoncleanCardWrapper::clear_card(jbyte* entry) {
+  if (_is_par) {
+    return clear_card_parallel(entry);
+  } else {
+    return clear_card_serial(entry);
+  }
+}
+
+inline bool ClearNoncleanCardWrapper::clear_card_parallel(jbyte* entry) {
+  while (true) {
+    // In the parallel case, we may have to do this several times.
+    jbyte entry_val = *entry;
+    assert(entry_val != CardTableRS::clean_card_val(),
+           "We shouldn't be looking at clean cards, and this should "
+           "be the only place they get cleaned.");
+    if (CardTableRS::card_is_dirty_wrt_gen_iter(entry_val)
+        || _ct->is_prev_youngergen_card_val(entry_val)) {
+      jbyte res =
+        Atomic::cmpxchg(CardTableRS::clean_card_val(), entry, entry_val);
+      if (res == entry_val) {
+        break;
+      } else {
+        assert(res == CardTableRS::cur_youngergen_and_prev_nonclean_card,
+               "The CAS above should only fail if another thread did "
+               "a GC write barrier.");
+      }
+    } else if (entry_val ==
+               CardTableRS::cur_youngergen_and_prev_nonclean_card) {
+      // Parallelism shouldn't matter in this case.  Only the thread
+      // assigned to scan the card should change this value.
+      *entry = _ct->cur_youngergen_card_val();
+      break;
+    } else {
+      assert(entry_val == _ct->cur_youngergen_card_val(),
+             "Should be the only possibility.");
+      // In this case, the card was clean before, and become
+      // cur_youngergen only because of processing of a promoted object.
+      // We don't have to look at the card.
+      return false;
+    }
+  }
+  return true;
+}
+
+
+inline bool ClearNoncleanCardWrapper::clear_card_serial(jbyte* entry) {
+  jbyte entry_val = *entry;
+  assert(entry_val != CardTableRS::clean_card_val(),
+         "We shouldn't be looking at clean cards, and this should "
+         "be the only place they get cleaned.");
+  assert(entry_val != CardTableRS::cur_youngergen_and_prev_nonclean_card,
+         "This should be possible in the sequential case.");
+  *entry = CardTableRS::clean_card_val();
+  return true;
+}
+
+ClearNoncleanCardWrapper::ClearNoncleanCardWrapper(
+  DirtyCardToOopClosure* dirty_card_closure, CardTableRS* ct, bool is_par) :
+    _dirty_card_closure(dirty_card_closure), _ct(ct), _is_par(is_par) {
+}
+
+bool ClearNoncleanCardWrapper::is_word_aligned(jbyte* entry) {
+  return (((intptr_t)entry) & (BytesPerWord-1)) == 0;
+}
+
+// The regions are visited in *decreasing* address order.
+// This order aids with imprecise card marking, where a dirty
+// card may cause scanning, and summarization marking, of objects
+// that extend onto subsequent cards.
+void ClearNoncleanCardWrapper::do_MemRegion(MemRegion mr) {
+  assert(mr.word_size() > 0, "Error");
+  assert(_ct->is_aligned(mr.start()), "mr.start() should be card aligned");
+  // mr.end() may not necessarily be card aligned.
+  jbyte* cur_entry = _ct->byte_for(mr.last());
+  const jbyte* limit = _ct->byte_for(mr.start());
+  HeapWord* end_of_non_clean = mr.end();
+  HeapWord* start_of_non_clean = end_of_non_clean;
+  while (cur_entry >= limit) {
+    HeapWord* cur_hw = _ct->addr_for(cur_entry);
+    if ((*cur_entry != CardTableRS::clean_card_val()) && clear_card(cur_entry)) {
+      // Continue the dirty range by opening the
+      // dirty window one card to the left.
+      start_of_non_clean = cur_hw;
+    } else {
+      // We hit a "clean" card; process any non-empty
+      // "dirty" range accumulated so far.
+      if (start_of_non_clean < end_of_non_clean) {
+        const MemRegion mrd(start_of_non_clean, end_of_non_clean);
+        _dirty_card_closure->do_MemRegion(mrd);
+      }
+
+      // fast forward through potential continuous whole-word range of clean cards beginning at a word-boundary
+      if (is_word_aligned(cur_entry)) {
+        jbyte* cur_row = cur_entry - BytesPerWord;
+        while (cur_row >= limit && *((intptr_t*)cur_row) ==  CardTableRS::clean_card_row()) {
+          cur_row -= BytesPerWord;
+        }
+        cur_entry = cur_row + BytesPerWord;
+        cur_hw = _ct->addr_for(cur_entry);
+      }
+
+      // Reset the dirty window, while continuing to look
+      // for the next dirty card that will start a
+      // new dirty window.
+      end_of_non_clean = cur_hw;
+      start_of_non_clean = cur_hw;
+    }
+    // Note that "cur_entry" leads "start_of_non_clean" in
+    // its leftward excursion after this point
+    // in the loop and, when we hit the left end of "mr",
+    // will point off of the left end of the card-table
+    // for "mr".
+    cur_entry--;
+  }
+  // If the first card of "mr" was dirty, we will have
+  // been left with a dirty window, co-initial with "mr",
+  // which we now process.
+  if (start_of_non_clean < end_of_non_clean) {
+    const MemRegion mrd(start_of_non_clean, end_of_non_clean);
+    _dirty_card_closure->do_MemRegion(mrd);
+  }
+}
+
+// clean (by dirty->clean before) ==> cur_younger_gen
+// dirty                          ==> cur_youngergen_and_prev_nonclean_card
+// precleaned                     ==> cur_youngergen_and_prev_nonclean_card
+// prev-younger-gen               ==> cur_youngergen_and_prev_nonclean_card
+// cur-younger-gen                ==> cur_younger_gen
+// cur_youngergen_and_prev_nonclean_card ==> no change.
+void CardTableRS::write_ref_field_gc_par(void* field, oop new_val) {
+  volatile jbyte* entry = _ct_bs->byte_for(field);
+  do {
+    jbyte entry_val = *entry;
+    // We put this first because it's probably the most common case.
+    if (entry_val == clean_card_val()) {
+      // No threat of contention with cleaning threads.
+      *entry = cur_youngergen_card_val();
+      return;
+    } else if (card_is_dirty_wrt_gen_iter(entry_val)
+               || is_prev_youngergen_card_val(entry_val)) {
+      // Mark it as both cur and prev youngergen; card cleaning thread will
+      // eventually remove the previous stuff.
+      jbyte new_val = cur_youngergen_and_prev_nonclean_card;
+      jbyte res = Atomic::cmpxchg(new_val, entry, entry_val);
+      // Did the CAS succeed?
+      if (res == entry_val) return;
+      // Otherwise, retry, to see the new value.
+      continue;
+    } else {
+      assert(entry_val == cur_youngergen_and_prev_nonclean_card
+             || entry_val == cur_youngergen_card_val(),
+             "should be only possibilities.");
+      return;
+    }
+  } while (true);
+}
+
+void CardTableRS::younger_refs_in_space_iterate(Space* sp,
+                                                OopsInGenClosure* cl,
+                                                uint n_threads) {
+  const MemRegion urasm = sp->used_region_at_save_marks();
+#ifdef ASSERT
+  // Convert the assertion check to a warning if we are running
+  // CMS+ParNew until related bug is fixed.
+  MemRegion ur    = sp->used_region();
+  assert(ur.contains(urasm) || (UseConcMarkSweepGC),
+         "Did you forget to call save_marks()? "
+         "[" PTR_FORMAT ", " PTR_FORMAT ") is not contained in "
+         "[" PTR_FORMAT ", " PTR_FORMAT ")",
+         p2i(urasm.start()), p2i(urasm.end()), p2i(ur.start()), p2i(ur.end()));
+  // In the case of CMS+ParNew, issue a warning
+  if (!ur.contains(urasm)) {
+    assert(UseConcMarkSweepGC, "Tautology: see assert above");
+    log_warning(gc)("CMS+ParNew: Did you forget to call save_marks()? "
+                    "[" PTR_FORMAT ", " PTR_FORMAT ") is not contained in "
+                    "[" PTR_FORMAT ", " PTR_FORMAT ")",
+                    p2i(urasm.start()), p2i(urasm.end()), p2i(ur.start()), p2i(ur.end()));
+    MemRegion ur2 = sp->used_region();
+    MemRegion urasm2 = sp->used_region_at_save_marks();
+    if (!ur.equals(ur2)) {
+      log_warning(gc)("CMS+ParNew: Flickering used_region()!!");
+    }
+    if (!urasm.equals(urasm2)) {
+      log_warning(gc)("CMS+ParNew: Flickering used_region_at_save_marks()!!");
+    }
+    ShouldNotReachHere();
+  }
+#endif
+  _ct_bs->non_clean_card_iterate_possibly_parallel(sp, urasm, cl, this, n_threads);
+}
+
+void CardTableRS::clear_into_younger(Generation* old_gen) {
+  assert(GenCollectedHeap::heap()->is_old_gen(old_gen),
+         "Should only be called for the old generation");
+  // The card tables for the youngest gen need never be cleared.
+  // There's a bit of subtlety in the clear() and invalidate()
+  // methods that we exploit here and in invalidate_or_clear()
+  // below to avoid missing cards at the fringes. If clear() or
+  // invalidate() are changed in the future, this code should
+  // be revisited. 20040107.ysr
+  clear(old_gen->prev_used_region());
+}
+
+void CardTableRS::invalidate_or_clear(Generation* old_gen) {
+  assert(GenCollectedHeap::heap()->is_old_gen(old_gen),
+         "Should only be called for the old generation");
+  // Invalidate the cards for the currently occupied part of
+  // the old generation and clear the cards for the
+  // unoccupied part of the generation (if any, making use
+  // of that generation's prev_used_region to determine that
+  // region). No need to do anything for the youngest
+  // generation. Also see note#20040107.ysr above.
+  MemRegion used_mr = old_gen->used_region();
+  MemRegion to_be_cleared_mr = old_gen->prev_used_region().minus(used_mr);
+  if (!to_be_cleared_mr.is_empty()) {
+    clear(to_be_cleared_mr);
+  }
+  invalidate(used_mr);
+}
+
+
+class VerifyCleanCardClosure: public OopClosure {
+private:
+  HeapWord* _boundary;
+  HeapWord* _begin;
+  HeapWord* _end;
+protected:
+  template <class T> void do_oop_work(T* p) {
+    HeapWord* jp = (HeapWord*)p;
+    assert(jp >= _begin && jp < _end,
+           "Error: jp " PTR_FORMAT " should be within "
+           "[_begin, _end) = [" PTR_FORMAT "," PTR_FORMAT ")",
+           p2i(jp), p2i(_begin), p2i(_end));
+    oop obj = oopDesc::load_decode_heap_oop(p);
+    guarantee(obj == NULL || (HeapWord*)obj >= _boundary,
+              "pointer " PTR_FORMAT " at " PTR_FORMAT " on "
+              "clean card crosses boundary" PTR_FORMAT,
+              p2i(obj), p2i(jp), p2i(_boundary));
+  }
+
+public:
+  VerifyCleanCardClosure(HeapWord* b, HeapWord* begin, HeapWord* end) :
+    _boundary(b), _begin(begin), _end(end) {
+    assert(b <= begin,
+           "Error: boundary " PTR_FORMAT " should be at or below begin " PTR_FORMAT,
+           p2i(b), p2i(begin));
+    assert(begin <= end,
+           "Error: begin " PTR_FORMAT " should be strictly below end " PTR_FORMAT,
+           p2i(begin), p2i(end));
+  }
+
+  virtual void do_oop(oop* p)       { VerifyCleanCardClosure::do_oop_work(p); }
+  virtual void do_oop(narrowOop* p) { VerifyCleanCardClosure::do_oop_work(p); }
+};
+
+class VerifyCTSpaceClosure: public SpaceClosure {
+private:
+  CardTableRS* _ct;
+  HeapWord* _boundary;
+public:
+  VerifyCTSpaceClosure(CardTableRS* ct, HeapWord* boundary) :
+    _ct(ct), _boundary(boundary) {}
+  virtual void do_space(Space* s) { _ct->verify_space(s, _boundary); }
+};
+
+class VerifyCTGenClosure: public GenCollectedHeap::GenClosure {
+  CardTableRS* _ct;
+public:
+  VerifyCTGenClosure(CardTableRS* ct) : _ct(ct) {}
+  void do_generation(Generation* gen) {
+    // Skip the youngest generation.
+    if (GenCollectedHeap::heap()->is_young_gen(gen)) {
+      return;
+    }
+    // Normally, we're interested in pointers to younger generations.
+    VerifyCTSpaceClosure blk(_ct, gen->reserved().start());
+    gen->space_iterate(&blk, true);
+  }
+};
+
+void CardTableRS::verify_space(Space* s, HeapWord* gen_boundary) {
+  // We don't need to do young-gen spaces.
+  if (s->end() <= gen_boundary) return;
+  MemRegion used = s->used_region();
+
+  jbyte* cur_entry = byte_for(used.start());
+  jbyte* limit = byte_after(used.last());
+  while (cur_entry < limit) {
+    if (*cur_entry == clean_card_val()) {
+      jbyte* first_dirty = cur_entry+1;
+      while (first_dirty < limit &&
+             *first_dirty == clean_card_val()) {
+        first_dirty++;
+      }
+      // If the first object is a regular object, and it has a
+      // young-to-old field, that would mark the previous card.
+      HeapWord* boundary = addr_for(cur_entry);
+      HeapWord* end = (first_dirty >= limit) ? used.end() : addr_for(first_dirty);
+      HeapWord* boundary_block = s->block_start(boundary);
+      HeapWord* begin = boundary;             // Until proven otherwise.
+      HeapWord* start_block = boundary_block; // Until proven otherwise.
+      if (boundary_block < boundary) {
+        if (s->block_is_obj(boundary_block) && s->obj_is_alive(boundary_block)) {
+          oop boundary_obj = oop(boundary_block);
+          if (!boundary_obj->is_objArray() &&
+              !boundary_obj->is_typeArray()) {
+            guarantee(cur_entry > byte_for(used.start()),
+                      "else boundary would be boundary_block");
+            if (*byte_for(boundary_block) != clean_card_val()) {
+              begin = boundary_block + s->block_size(boundary_block);
+              start_block = begin;
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+      // Now traverse objects until end.
+      if (begin < end) {
+        MemRegion mr(begin, end);
+        VerifyCleanCardClosure verify_blk(gen_boundary, begin, end);
+        for (HeapWord* cur = start_block; cur < end; cur += s->block_size(cur)) {
+          if (s->block_is_obj(cur) && s->obj_is_alive(cur)) {
+            oop(cur)->oop_iterate_no_header(&verify_blk, mr);
+          }
+        }
+      }
+      cur_entry = first_dirty;
+    } else {
+      // We'd normally expect that cur_youngergen_and_prev_nonclean_card
+      // is a transient value, that cannot be in the card table
+      // except during GC, and thus assert that:
+      // guarantee(*cur_entry != cur_youngergen_and_prev_nonclean_card,
+      //        "Illegal CT value");
+      // That however, need not hold, as will become clear in the
+      // following...
+
+      // We'd normally expect that if we are in the parallel case,
+      // we can't have left a prev value (which would be different
+      // from the current value) in the card table, and so we'd like to
+      // assert that:
+      // guarantee(cur_youngergen_card_val() == youngergen_card
+      //           || !is_prev_youngergen_card_val(*cur_entry),
+      //           "Illegal CT value");
+      // That, however, may not hold occasionally, because of
+      // CMS or MSC in the old gen. To wit, consider the
+      // following two simple illustrative scenarios:
+      // (a) CMS: Consider the case where a large object L
+      //     spanning several cards is allocated in the old
+      //     gen, and has a young gen reference stored in it, dirtying
+      //     some interior cards. A young collection scans the card,
+      //     finds a young ref and installs a youngergenP_n value.
+      //     L then goes dead. Now a CMS collection starts,
+      //     finds L dead and sweeps it up. Assume that L is
+      //     abutting _unallocated_blk, so _unallocated_blk is
+      //     adjusted down to (below) L. Assume further that
+      //     no young collection intervenes during this CMS cycle.
+      //     The next young gen cycle will not get to look at this
+      //     youngergenP_n card since it lies in the unoccupied
+      //     part of the space.
+      //     Some young collections later the blocks on this
+      //     card can be re-allocated either due to direct allocation
+      //     or due to absorbing promotions. At this time, the
+      //     before-gc verification will fail the above assert.
+      // (b) MSC: In this case, an object L with a young reference
+      //     is on a card that (therefore) holds a youngergen_n value.
+      //     Suppose also that L lies towards the end of the used
+      //     the used space before GC. An MSC collection
+      //     occurs that compacts to such an extent that this
+      //     card is no longer in the occupied part of the space.
+      //     Since current code in MSC does not always clear cards
+      //     in the unused part of old gen, this stale youngergen_n
+      //     value is left behind and can later be covered by
+      //     an object when promotion or direct allocation
+      //     re-allocates that part of the heap.
+      //
+      // Fortunately, the presence of such stale card values is
+      // "only" a minor annoyance in that subsequent young collections
+      // might needlessly scan such cards, but would still never corrupt
+      // the heap as a result. However, it's likely not to be a significant
+      // performance inhibitor in practice. For instance,
+      // some recent measurements with unoccupied cards eagerly cleared
+      // out to maintain this invariant, showed next to no
+      // change in young collection times; of course one can construct
+      // degenerate examples where the cost can be significant.)
+      // Note, in particular, that if the "stale" card is modified
+      // after re-allocation, it would be dirty, not "stale". Thus,
+      // we can never have a younger ref in such a card and it is
+      // safe not to scan that card in any collection. [As we see
+      // below, we do some unnecessary scanning
+      // in some cases in the current parallel scanning algorithm.]
+      //
+      // The main point below is that the parallel card scanning code
+      // deals correctly with these stale card values. There are two main
+      // cases to consider where we have a stale "young gen" value and a
+      // "derivative" case to consider, where we have a stale
+      // "cur_younger_gen_and_prev_non_clean" value, as will become
+      // apparent in the case analysis below.
+      // o Case 1. If the stale value corresponds to a younger_gen_n
+      //   value other than the cur_younger_gen value then the code
+      //   treats this as being tantamount to a prev_younger_gen
+      //   card. This means that the card may be unnecessarily scanned.
+      //   There are two sub-cases to consider:
+      //   o Case 1a. Let us say that the card is in the occupied part
+      //     of the generation at the time the collection begins. In
+      //     that case the card will be either cleared when it is scanned
+      //     for young pointers, or will be set to cur_younger_gen as a
+      //     result of promotion. (We have elided the normal case where
+      //     the scanning thread and the promoting thread interleave
+      //     possibly resulting in a transient
+      //     cur_younger_gen_and_prev_non_clean value before settling
+      //     to cur_younger_gen. [End Case 1a.]
+      //   o Case 1b. Consider now the case when the card is in the unoccupied
+      //     part of the space which becomes occupied because of promotions
+      //     into it during the current young GC. In this case the card
+      //     will never be scanned for young references. The current
+      //     code will set the card value to either
+      //     cur_younger_gen_and_prev_non_clean or leave
+      //     it with its stale value -- because the promotions didn't
+      //     result in any younger refs on that card. Of these two
+      //     cases, the latter will be covered in Case 1a during
+      //     a subsequent scan. To deal with the former case, we need
+      //     to further consider how we deal with a stale value of
+      //     cur_younger_gen_and_prev_non_clean in our case analysis
+      //     below. This we do in Case 3 below. [End Case 1b]
+      //   [End Case 1]
+      // o Case 2. If the stale value corresponds to cur_younger_gen being
+      //   a value not necessarily written by a current promotion, the
+      //   card will not be scanned by the younger refs scanning code.
+      //   (This is OK since as we argued above such cards cannot contain
+      //   any younger refs.) The result is that this value will be
+      //   treated as a prev_younger_gen value in a subsequent collection,
+      //   which is addressed in Case 1 above. [End Case 2]
+      // o Case 3. We here consider the "derivative" case from Case 1b. above
+      //   because of which we may find a stale
+      //   cur_younger_gen_and_prev_non_clean card value in the table.
+      //   Once again, as in Case 1, we consider two subcases, depending
+      //   on whether the card lies in the occupied or unoccupied part
+      //   of the space at the start of the young collection.
+      //   o Case 3a. Let us say the card is in the occupied part of
+      //     the old gen at the start of the young collection. In that
+      //     case, the card will be scanned by the younger refs scanning
+      //     code which will set it to cur_younger_gen. In a subsequent
+      //     scan, the card will be considered again and get its final
+      //     correct value. [End Case 3a]
+      //   o Case 3b. Now consider the case where the card is in the
+      //     unoccupied part of the old gen, and is occupied as a result
+      //     of promotions during thus young gc. In that case,
+      //     the card will not be scanned for younger refs. The presence
+      //     of newly promoted objects on the card will then result in
+      //     its keeping the value cur_younger_gen_and_prev_non_clean
+      //     value, which we have dealt with in Case 3 here. [End Case 3b]
+      //   [End Case 3]
+      //
+      // (Please refer to the code in the helper class
+      // ClearNonCleanCardWrapper and in CardTableModRefBS for details.)
+      //
+      // The informal arguments above can be tightened into a formal
+      // correctness proof and it behooves us to write up such a proof,
+      // or to use model checking to prove that there are no lingering
+      // concerns.
+      //
+      // Clearly because of Case 3b one cannot bound the time for
+      // which a card will retain what we have called a "stale" value.
+      // However, one can obtain a Loose upper bound on the redundant
+      // work as a result of such stale values. Note first that any
+      // time a stale card lies in the occupied part of the space at
+      // the start of the collection, it is scanned by younger refs
+      // code and we can define a rank function on card values that
+      // declines when this is so. Note also that when a card does not
+      // lie in the occupied part of the space at the beginning of a
+      // young collection, its rank can either decline or stay unchanged.
+      // In this case, no extra work is done in terms of redundant
+      // younger refs scanning of that card.
+      // Then, the case analysis above reveals that, in the worst case,
+      // any such stale card will be scanned unnecessarily at most twice.
+      //
+      // It is nonetheless advisable to try and get rid of some of this
+      // redundant work in a subsequent (low priority) re-design of
+      // the card-scanning code, if only to simplify the underlying
+      // state machine analysis/proof. ysr 1/28/2002. XXX
+      cur_entry++;
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+void CardTableRS::verify() {
+  // At present, we only know how to verify the card table RS for
+  // generational heaps.
+  VerifyCTGenClosure blk(this);
+  GenCollectedHeap::heap()->generation_iterate(&blk, false);
+  _ct_bs->verify();
+}