linux-kernel - [PATCH tip/core/rcu 3/4] documentation: Add RCU

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Date:	Wed, 15 Jun 2016 14:39:06 -0700
From:	"Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>
To:	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Cc:	mingo@...nel.org, jiangshanlai@...il.com, dipankar@...ibm.com,
	akpm@...ux-foundation.org, mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com,
	josh@...htriplett.org, tglx@...utronix.de, peterz@...radead.org,
	rostedt@...dmis.org, dhowells@...hat.com, edumazet@...gle.com,
	dvhart@...ux.intel.com, fweisbec@...il.com, oleg@...hat.com,
	bobby.prani@...il.com,
	"Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>
Subject: [PATCH tip/core/rcu 3/4] documentation: Add RCU_NONIDLE() restrictions to requirements

Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>
---
 .../RCU/Design/Requirements/Requirements.html      | 35 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 35 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/Design/Requirements/Requirements.html b/Documentation/RCU/Design/Requirements/Requirements.html
index e7e24b3e86e2..ece410f40436 100644
--- a/Documentation/RCU/Design/Requirements/Requirements.html
+++ b/Documentation/RCU/Design/Requirements/Requirements.html
@@ -2391,6 +2391,41 @@ and <tt>RCU_NONIDLE()</tt> on the other while inspecting
 idle-loop code.
 Steven Rostedt supplied <tt>_rcuidle</tt> event tracing,
 which is used quite heavily in the idle loop.
+However, there are some restrictions on the code placed within
+<tt>RCU_NONIDLE()</tt>:
+
+<ol>
+<li>	Blocking is prohibited.
+	In practice, this is not a serious restriction given that idle
+	tasks are prohibited from blocking to begin with.
+<li>	Although nesting <tt>RCU_NONIDLE()</tt> is permited, they cannot
+	nest indefinitely deeply.
+	However, given that they can be nested on the order of a million
+	deep, even on 32-bit systems, this should not be a serious
+	restriction.
+	This nesting limit would probably be reached long after the
+	compiler OOMed or the stack overflowed.
+<li>	Any code path that enters <tt>RCU_NONIDLE()</tt> must sequence
+	out of that same <tt>RCU_NONIDLE()</tt>.
+	For example, the following is grossly illegal:
+
+	<blockquote>
+	<pre>
+ 1     RCU_NONIDLE({
+ 2       do_something();
+ 3       goto bad_idea;  /* BUG!!! */
+ 4       do_something_else();});
+ 5   bad_idea:
+	</pre>
+	</blockquote>
+
+	<p>
+	It is just as illegal to transfer control into the middle of
+	<tt>RCU_NONIDLE()</tt>'s argument.
+	Yes, in theory, you could transfer in as long as you also
+	transferred out, but in practice you could also expect to get sharply
+	worded review comments.
+</ol>
 
 <p>
 It is similarly socially unacceptable to interrupt an
-- 
2.5.2