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@@ -2493,6 +2493,28 @@ or some future “lazy”
variant of <tt>call_rcu()</tt> that might one day be created for
energy-efficiency purposes.
+<p>
+That said, there are limits.
+RCU requires that the <tt>rcu_head</tt> structure be aligned to a
+two-byte boundary, and passing a misaligned <tt>rcu_head</tt>
+structure to one of the <tt>call_rcu()</tt> family of functions
+will result in a splat.
+It is therefore necessary to exercise caution when packing
+structures containing fields of type <tt>rcu_head</tt>.
+Why not a four-byte or even eight-byte alignment requirement?
+Because the m68k architecture provides only two-byte alignment,
+and thus acts as alignment's least common denominator.
+
+<p>
+The reason for reserving the bottom bit of pointers to
+<tt>rcu_head</tt> structures is to leave the door open to
+&ldquo;lazy&rdquo; callbacks whose invocations can safely be deferred.
+Deferring invocation could potentially have energy-efficiency
+benefits, but only if the rate of non-lazy callbacks decreases
+significantly for some important workload.
+In the meantime, reserving the bottom bit keeps this option open
+in case it one day becomes useful.
+
<h3><a name="Performance, Scalability, Response Time, and Reliability">
Performance, Scalability, Response Time, and Reliability</a></h3>