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author | Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> | 2010-04-09 15:39:12 -0700 |
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committer | Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu> | 2010-04-14 12:20:12 +0200 |
commit | 50aec0024eccb1d5f540ab64a1958eebcdb9340c (patch) | |
tree | 82527de1628c348349361bf8350ea37d04fc31d5 /Documentation/RCU/NMI-RCU.txt | |
parent | c08c68dd76bd6b776bc0eb45a5e8f354ed772cdf (diff) | |
download | linux-50aec0024eccb1d5f540ab64a1958eebcdb9340c.tar.bz2 |
rcu: Update docs for rcu_access_pointer and rcu_dereference_protected
Update examples and lists of APIs to include these new
primitives.
Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Cc: laijs@cn.fujitsu.com
Cc: dipankar@in.ibm.com
Cc: mathieu.desnoyers@polymtl.ca
Cc: josh@joshtriplett.org
Cc: dvhltc@us.ibm.com
Cc: niv@us.ibm.com
Cc: peterz@infradead.org
Cc: rostedt@goodmis.org
Cc: Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu
Cc: dhowells@redhat.com
Cc: eric.dumazet@gmail.com
LKML-Reference: <1270852752-25278-3-git-send-email-paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/RCU/NMI-RCU.txt')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/RCU/NMI-RCU.txt | 39 |
1 files changed, 22 insertions, 17 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/NMI-RCU.txt b/Documentation/RCU/NMI-RCU.txt index a6d32e65d222..a8536cb88091 100644 --- a/Documentation/RCU/NMI-RCU.txt +++ b/Documentation/RCU/NMI-RCU.txt @@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ NMI handler. cpu = smp_processor_id(); ++nmi_count(cpu); - if (!rcu_dereference(nmi_callback)(regs, cpu)) + if (!rcu_dereference_sched(nmi_callback)(regs, cpu)) default_do_nmi(regs); nmi_exit(); @@ -47,12 +47,13 @@ function pointer. If this handler returns zero, do_nmi() invokes the default_do_nmi() function to handle a machine-specific NMI. Finally, preemption is restored. -Strictly speaking, rcu_dereference() is not needed, since this code runs -only on i386, which does not need rcu_dereference() anyway. However, -it is a good documentation aid, particularly for anyone attempting to -do something similar on Alpha. +In theory, rcu_dereference_sched() is not needed, since this code runs +only on i386, which in theory does not need rcu_dereference_sched() +anyway. However, in practice it is a good documentation aid, particularly +for anyone attempting to do something similar on Alpha or on systems +with aggressive optimizing compilers. -Quick Quiz: Why might the rcu_dereference() be necessary on Alpha, +Quick Quiz: Why might the rcu_dereference_sched() be necessary on Alpha, given that the code referenced by the pointer is read-only? @@ -99,17 +100,21 @@ invoke irq_enter() and irq_exit() on NMI entry and exit, respectively. Answer to Quick Quiz - Why might the rcu_dereference() be necessary on Alpha, given + Why might the rcu_dereference_sched() be necessary on Alpha, given that the code referenced by the pointer is read-only? Answer: The caller to set_nmi_callback() might well have - initialized some data that is to be used by the - new NMI handler. In this case, the rcu_dereference() - would be needed, because otherwise a CPU that received - an NMI just after the new handler was set might see - the pointer to the new NMI handler, but the old - pre-initialized version of the handler's data. - - More important, the rcu_dereference() makes it clear - to someone reading the code that the pointer is being - protected by RCU. + initialized some data that is to be used by the new NMI + handler. In this case, the rcu_dereference_sched() would + be needed, because otherwise a CPU that received an NMI + just after the new handler was set might see the pointer + to the new NMI handler, but the old pre-initialized + version of the handler's data. + + This same sad story can happen on other CPUs when using + a compiler with aggressive pointer-value speculation + optimizations. + + More important, the rcu_dereference_sched() makes it + clear to someone reading the code that the pointer is + being protected by RCU-sched. |