More comment improvements for RCU primitives
RFC PATCH 1/1 More comment improvements for RCU primitives
Hello!
Here is a patch to improve the usefulness of the RCU primitives' documentation. Again, this probably interacts badly with existing RCU patches, which I will fix when I incorporate feedback.
Thanx, Paul
include/linux/rcupdate.h +45 -0
@@ -121,8 +121,53 @@ static inline int rcu_pending(int cpu)return 0 ; } +/** +* rcu_read_lock - mark the beginning of an RCU read-side critical section. +* +* When synchronize_kernel() is invoked on one CPU while other CPUs +* are within RCU read-side critical sections, then the +* synchronize_kernel() is guaranteed to block until after all the other +* CPUs exit their critical sections. Similarly, if call_rcu() is invoked +* on one CPU while other CPUs are within RCU read-side critical +* sections, invocation of the corresponding RCU callback is deferred +* until after the all the other CPUs exit their critical sections. +* +* Note, however, that RCU callbacks are permitted to run concurrently +* with RCU read-side critical sections. One way that this can happen +* is via the following sequence of events: (1) CPU 0 enters an RCU +* read-side critical section, (2) CPU 1 invokes call_rcu() to register +* an RCU callback, (3) CPU 0 exits the RCU read-side critical section, +* (4) CPU 2 enters a RCU read-side critical section, (5) the RCU +* callback is invoked. This is legal, because the RCU read-side critical +* section that was running concurrently with the call_rcu() (and which +* therefore might be referencing something that the corresponding RCU +* callback would free up) has completed before the corresponding +* RCU callback is invoked. +* +* RCU read-side critical sections may be nested. Any deferred actions +* will be deferred until the outermost RCU read-side critical section +* completes. +* +* It is illegal to block while in an RCU read-side critical section. +*/ #define rcu_read_lock () preempt_disable() + +/** +* rcu_read_unlock - marks the end of an RCU read-side critical section. +* +* See rcu_read_lock() for more information. +*/ #define rcu_read_unlock () preempt_enable() + +/* +* So where is rcu_write_lock()? It does not exist, as there is no +* way for writers to lock out RCU readers. This is a feature, not +* a bug -- this property is what provides RCU's performance benefits. +* Of course, writers must coordinate with each other. The normal +* spinlock primitives work well for this, but any other technique may be +* used as well. RCU does not care how the writers keep out of each +* others' way, as long as they do so. +*/ extern void rcu_init (void );extern void rcu_check_callbacks (int cpu,int user);
kernel/rcupdate.c +13 -7
@@ -56,15 +56,16 @@ static DEFINE_PER_CPU(struct tasklet_str#define RCU_tasklet (cpu) (per_cpu(rcu_tasklet, cpu))/** -* call_rcu - Queue an RCU update request. +* call_rcu - Queue an RCU callback for invocation after a grace period. * @head: structure to be used for queueing the RCU updates. * @func: actual update function to be invoked after the grace period * @arg: argument to be passed to the update function * -* The update function will be invoked as soon as all CPUs have performed -* a context switch or been seen in the idle loop or in a user process. -* The read-side of critical section that use call_rcu() for updation must -* be protected by rcu_read_lock()/rcu_read_unlock(). +* The update function will be invoked some time after a full grace +* period elapses, in other words after all currently executing RCU +* read-side critical sections have completed. RCU read-side critical +* sections are delimited by rcu_read_lock() and rcu_read_unlock(), +* and may be nested. */ void fastcall call_rcu(struct rcu_head *head, void (*func)(void *arg), void *arg) {
@@ -310,8 +311,13 @@ static void wakeme_after_rcu(void *compl }/** -* synchronize-kernel - wait until all the CPUs have gone -* through a "quiescent" state. It may sleep. +* synchronize_kernel - wait until a grace period has elapsed. +* +* Control will return to the caller some time after a full grace +* period has elapsed, in other words after all currently executing RCU +* read-side critical sections have completed. RCU read-side critical +* sections are delimited by rcu_read_lock() and rcu_read_unlock(), +* and may be nested. */ void synchronize_kernel (void ) {
Submitted-by <[email protected]> AKA <[email protected]>