linux-kernel - [PATCH tip/core/rcu 7/9] doc: Update the comparisons rule in rcu

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Date:   Wed, 12 Apr 2017 09:40:20 -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,
        Michalis Kokologiannakis <mixaskok@...il.com>,
        "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>
Subject: [PATCH tip/core/rcu 7/9] doc: Update the comparisons rule in rcu_dereference.txt

From: Michalis Kokologiannakis <mixaskok@...il.com>

When an RCU-protected pointer is fetched but never dereferenced
rcu_access_pointer() should be used in place of rcu_dereference().
This commit explicitly records this very fact in Documentation/
RCU/rcu_dereference.txt, in order to prevent the usage of
rcu_dereference() in comparisons.

Signed-off-by: Michalis Kokologiannakis <mixaskok@...il.com>
Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>
---
 Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.txt | 9 +++++++++
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.txt b/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.txt
index c0bf2441a2ba..b2a613f16d74 100644
--- a/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.txt
+++ b/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.txt
@@ -138,6 +138,15 @@ o	Be very careful about comparing pointers obtained from
 		This sort of comparison occurs frequently when scanning
 		RCU-protected circular linked lists.
 
+		Note that if checks for being within an RCU read-side
+		critical section are not required and the pointer is never
+		dereferenced, rcu_access_pointer() should be used in place
+		of rcu_dereference(). The rcu_access_pointer() primitive
+		does not require an enclosing read-side critical section,
+		and also omits the smp_read_barrier_depends() included in
+		rcu_dereference(), which in turn should provide a small
+		performance gain in some CPUs (e.g., the DEC Alpha).
+
 	o	The comparison is against a pointer that references memory
 		that was initialized "a long time ago."  The reason
 		this is safe is that even if misordering occurs, the
-- 
2.5.2