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-rw-r--r--Documentation/memory-barriers.txt41
1 files changed, 24 insertions, 17 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt b/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
index c4ddfcd5ee32..e2ee0a1c299a 100644
--- a/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
+++ b/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
@@ -594,7 +594,24 @@ between the address load and the data load:
This enforces the occurrence of one of the two implications, and prevents the
third possibility from arising.
-A data-dependency barrier must also order against dependent writes:
+
+[!] Note that this extremely counterintuitive situation arises most easily on
+machines with split caches, so that, for example, one cache bank processes
+even-numbered cache lines and the other bank processes odd-numbered cache
+lines. The pointer P might be stored in an odd-numbered cache line, and the
+variable B might be stored in an even-numbered cache line. Then, if the
+even-numbered bank of the reading CPU's cache is extremely busy while the
+odd-numbered bank is idle, one can see the new value of the pointer P (&B),
+but the old value of the variable B (2).
+
+
+A data-dependency barrier is not required to order dependent writes
+because the CPUs that the Linux kernel supports don't do writes
+until they are certain (1) that the write will actually happen, (2)
+of the location of the write, and (3) of the value to be written.
+But please carefully read the "CONTROL DEPENDENCIES" section and the
+Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.txt file: The compiler can and does
+break dependencies in a great many highly creative ways.
CPU 1 CPU 2
=============== ===============
@@ -603,29 +620,19 @@ A data-dependency barrier must also order against dependent writes:
<write barrier>
WRITE_ONCE(P, &B);
Q = READ_ONCE(P);
- <data dependency barrier>
- *Q = 5;
+ WRITE_ONCE(*Q, 5);
-The data-dependency barrier must order the read into Q with the store
-into *Q. This prohibits this outcome:
+Therefore, no data-dependency barrier is required to order the read into
+Q with the store into *Q. In other words, this outcome is prohibited,
+even without a data-dependency barrier:
(Q == &B) && (B == 4)
Please note that this pattern should be rare. After all, the whole point
of dependency ordering is to -prevent- writes to the data structure, along
with the expensive cache misses associated with those writes. This pattern
-can be used to record rare error conditions and the like, and the ordering
-prevents such records from being lost.
-
-
-[!] Note that this extremely counterintuitive situation arises most easily on
-machines with split caches, so that, for example, one cache bank processes
-even-numbered cache lines and the other bank processes odd-numbered cache
-lines. The pointer P might be stored in an odd-numbered cache line, and the
-variable B might be stored in an even-numbered cache line. Then, if the
-even-numbered bank of the reading CPU's cache is extremely busy while the
-odd-numbered bank is idle, one can see the new value of the pointer P (&B),
-but the old value of the variable B (2).
+can be used to record rare error conditions and the like, and the CPUs'
+naturally occurring ordering prevents such records from being lost.
The data dependency barrier is very important to the RCU system,