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

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Message-Id: <194369f4c96ea0e24decf8f9197d5bad@kernel.crashing.org>
Date:	Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:32:03 +0200
From:	Segher Boessenkool <segher@...nel.crashing.org>
To:	Nick Piggin <nickpiggin@...oo.com.au>
Cc:	heiko.carstens@...ibm.com, horms@...ge.net.au,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, rpjday@...dspring.com, ak@...e.de,
	netdev@...r.kernel.org, cfriesen@...tel.com,
	akpm@...ux-foundation.org, torvalds@...ux-foundation.org,
	jesper.juhl@...il.com, linux-arch@...r.kernel.org, zlynx@....org,
	satyam@...radead.org, clameter@....com, schwidefsky@...ibm.com,
	Chris Snook <csnook@...hat.com>,
	Herbert Xu <herbert.xu@...hat.com>, davem@...emloft.net,
	wensong@...ux-vs.org, wjiang@...ilience.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/24] make atomic_read() behave consistently across all architectures

>>>> Part of the motivation here is to fix heisenbugs.  If I knew where 
>>>> they
>>>
>>>
>>> By the same token we should probably disable optimisations
>>> altogether since that too can create heisenbugs.
>> Almost everything is a tradeoff; and so is this.  I don't
>> believe most people would find disabling all compiler
>> optimisations an acceptable price to pay for some peace
>> of mind.
>
> So why is this a good tradeoff?

It certainly is better than disabling all compiler optimisations!

> I also think that just adding things to APIs in the hope it might fix
> up some bugs isn't really a good road to go down. Where do you stop?

I look at it the other way: keeping the "volatile" semantics in
atomic_XXX() (or adding them to it, whatever) helps _prevent_ bugs;
certainly most people expect that behaviour, and also that behaviour
is *needed* in some places and no other interface provides that
functionality.


[some confusion about barriers wrt atomics snipped]


Segher

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