linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 0/24] make atomic_read() behave consistently across all architectures

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Date:	Tue, 21 Aug 2007 00:04:17 +0200
From:	Segher Boessenkool <segher@...nel.crashing.org>
To:	Chris Snook <csnook@...hat.com>
Cc:	Christoph Lameter <clameter@....com>,
	Paul Mackerras <paulus@...ba.org>, heiko.carstens@...ibm.com,
	horms@...ge.net.au, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	"Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>, ak@...e.de,
	netdev@...r.kernel.org, cfriesen@...tel.com,
	akpm@...ux-foundation.org, rpjday@...dspring.com,
	Nick Piggin <nickpiggin@...oo.com.au>,
	linux-arch@...r.kernel.org, jesper.juhl@...il.com,
	satyam@...radead.org, zlynx@....org, schwidefsky@...ibm.com,
	Herbert Xu <herbert@...dor.apana.org.au>, davem@...emloft.net,
	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>,
	wensong@...ux-vs.org, wjiang@...ilience.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/24] make atomic_read() behave consistently across all architectures

>> Right. ROTFL... volatile actually breaks atomic_t instead of making 
>> it safe. x++ becomes a register load, increment and a register store. 
>> Without volatile we can increment the memory directly. It seems that 
>> volatile requires that the variable is loaded into a register first 
>> and then operated upon. Understandable when you think about volatile 
>> being used to access memory mapped I/O registers where a RMW 
>> operation could be problematic.
>
> So, if we want consistent behavior, we're pretty much screwed unless 
> we use inline assembler everywhere?

Nah, this whole argument is flawed -- "without volatile" we still
*cannot* "increment the memory directly".  On x86, you need a lock
prefix; on other archs, some other mechanism to make the memory
increment an *atomic* memory increment.

And no, RMW on MMIO isn't "problematic" at all, either.

An RMW op is a read op, a modify op, and a write op, all rolled
into one opcode.  But three actual operations.


The advantages of asm code for atomic_{read,set} are:
1) all the other atomic ops are implemented that way already;
2) you have full control over the asm insns selected, in particular,
    you can guarantee you *do* get an atomic op;
3) you don't need to use "volatile <data>" which generates
    not-all-that-good code on archs like x86, and we want to get rid
    of it anyway since it is problematic in many ways;
4) you don't need to use *(volatile <type>*)&<data>, which a) doesn't
    exist in C; b) isn't documented or supported in GCC; c) has a recent
    history of bugginess; d) _still uses volatile objects_; e) _still_
    is problematic in almost all those same ways as in 3);
5) you can mix atomic and non-atomic accesses to the atomic_t, which
    you cannot with the other alternatives.

The only disadvantage I know of is potentially slightly worse
instruction scheduling.  This is a generic asm() problem: GCC
cannot see what actual insns are inside the asm() block.


Segher

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