linux-kernel - [PATCH] local_t Documentation update 2

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Date:	Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:52:51 -0400
From:	Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@...ymtl.ca>
To:	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc:	matthew@....cx, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-mm@...ck.org,
	penberg@...helsinki.fi, linux-arch@...r.kernel.org,
	Christoph Lameter <clameter@....com>
Subject: [PATCH] local_t Documentation update 2

local_t Documentation update 2

(this patch seems to have fallen off the grid, but is still providing
useful information. It applies to 2.6.23-mm1.)

Grant Grundler was asking for more detail about correct usage of local atomic
operations and suggested adding the resulting summary to local_ops.txt.

"Please add a bit more detail. If DaveM is correct (he normally is), then
there must be limits on how the local_t can be used in the kernel process
and interrupt contexts. I'd like those rules spelled out very clearly
since it's easy to get wrong and tracking down such a bug is quite painful."

Signed-off-by: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@...ymtl.ca>
Signed-off-by: Grant Grundler <grundler@...isc-linux.org>
---
 Documentation/local_ops.txt |   23 +++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 23 insertions(+)

Index: linux-2.6-lttng/Documentation/local_ops.txt
===================================================================
--- linux-2.6-lttng.orig/Documentation/local_ops.txt	2007-09-04 11:53:23.000000000 -0400
+++ linux-2.6-lttng/Documentation/local_ops.txt	2007-09-04 12:19:31.000000000 -0400
@@ -68,6 +68,29 @@ typedef struct { atomic_long_t a; } loca
   variable can be read when reading some _other_ cpu's variables.
 
 
+* Rules to follow when using local atomic operations
+
+- Variables touched by local ops must be per cpu variables.
+- _Only_ the CPU owner of these variables must write to them.
+- This CPU can use local ops from any context (process, irq, softirq, nmi, ...)
+  to update its local_t variables.
+- Preemption (or interrupts) must be disabled when using local ops in
+  process context to   make sure the process won't be migrated to a
+  different CPU between getting the per-cpu variable and doing the
+  actual local op.
+- When using local ops in interrupt context, no special care must be
+  taken on a mainline kernel, since they will run on the local CPU with
+  preemption already disabled. I suggest, however, to explicitly
+  disable preemption anyway to make sure it will still work correctly on
+  -rt kernels.
+- Reading the local cpu variable will provide the current copy of the
+  variable.
+- Reads of these variables can be done from any CPU, because updates to
+  "long", aligned, variables are always atomic. Since no memory
+  synchronization is done by the writer CPU, an outdated copy of the
+  variable can be read when reading some _other_ cpu's variables.
+
+
 * How to use local atomic operations
 
 #include <linux/percpu.h>
-- 
Mathieu Desnoyers
Computer Engineering Ph.D. Student, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal
OpenPGP key fingerprint: 8CD5 52C3 8E3C 4140 715F  BA06 3F25 A8FE 3BAE 9A68
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