netdev - Re: [PATCH] i386: Fix a couple busy loops in mach_wakecpu.h:wait_for_init

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Date:	Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:34:57 -0400
From:	Chris Snook <csnook@...hat.com>
To:	Denys Vlasenko <vda.linux@...glemail.com>
CC:	Christoph Lameter <clameter@....com>,
	Satyam Sharma <satyam@...radead.org>,
	Heiko Carstens <heiko.carstens@...ibm.com>,
	Herbert Xu <herbert@...dor.apana.org.au>,
	Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	linux-arch@...r.kernel.org,
	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>,
	netdev@...r.kernel.org, Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	ak@...e.de, davem@...emloft.net, schwidefsky@...ibm.com,
	wensong@...ux-vs.org, horms@...ge.net.au, wjiang@...ilience.com,
	cfriesen@...tel.com, zlynx@....org, rpjday@...dspring.com,
	jesper.juhl@...il.com, segher@...nel.crashing.org,
	Nick Piggin <nickpiggin@...oo.com.au>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] i386: Fix a couple busy loops in mach_wakecpu.h:wait_for_init_deassert()

Denys Vlasenko wrote:
> On Friday 24 August 2007 18:06, Christoph Lameter wrote:
>> On Fri, 24 Aug 2007, Satyam Sharma wrote:
>>> But if people do seem to have a mixed / confused notion of atomicity
>>> and barriers, and if there's consensus, then as I'd said earlier, I
>>> have no issues in going with the consensus (eg. having API variants).
>>> Linus would be more difficult to convince, however, I suspect :-)
>> The confusion may be the result of us having barrier semantics in
>> atomic_read. If we take that out then we may avoid future confusions.
> 
> I think better name may help. Nuke atomic_read() altogether.
> 
> n = atomic_value(x);	// doesnt hint as strongly at reading as "atomic_read"
> n = atomic_fetch(x);	// yes, we _do_ touch RAM
> n = atomic_read_uncached(x); // or this
> 
> How does that sound?

atomic_value() vs. atomic_fetch() should be rather unambiguous. 
atomic_read_uncached() begs the question of precisely which cache we are 
avoiding, and could itself cause confusion.

So, if I were writing atomic.h from scratch, knowing what I know now, I think 
I'd use atomic_value() and atomic_fetch().  The problem is that there are a lot 
of existing users of atomic_read(), and we can't write a script to correctly 
guess their intent.  I'm not sure auditing all uses of atomic_read() is really 
worth the comparatively miniscule benefits.

We could play it safe and convert them all to atomic_fetch(), or we could 
acknowledge that changing the semantics 8 months ago was not at all disastrous, 
and make them all atomic_value(), allowing people to use atomic_fetch() where 
they really care.

	-- Chris
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