summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
-rw-r--r--Documentation/atomic_t.txt41
1 files changed, 41 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/atomic_t.txt b/Documentation/atomic_t.txt
index 0f1fdedf36bb..a9c1e2b39b15 100644
--- a/Documentation/atomic_t.txt
+++ b/Documentation/atomic_t.txt
@@ -271,3 +271,44 @@ WRITE_ONCE. Thus:
SC *y, t;
is allowed.
+
+
+CMPXCHG vs TRY_CMPXCHG
+----------------------
+
+ int atomic_cmpxchg(atomic_t *ptr, int old, int new);
+ bool atomic_try_cmpxchg(atomic_t *ptr, int *oldp, int new);
+
+Both provide the same functionality, but try_cmpxchg() can lead to more
+compact code. The functions relate like:
+
+ bool atomic_try_cmpxchg(atomic_t *ptr, int *oldp, int new)
+ {
+ int ret, old = *oldp;
+ ret = atomic_cmpxchg(ptr, old, new);
+ if (ret != old)
+ *oldp = ret;
+ return ret == old;
+ }
+
+and:
+
+ int atomic_cmpxchg(atomic_t *ptr, int old, int new)
+ {
+ (void)atomic_try_cmpxchg(ptr, &old, new);
+ return old;
+ }
+
+Usage:
+
+ old = atomic_read(&v); old = atomic_read(&v);
+ for (;;) { do {
+ new = func(old); new = func(old);
+ tmp = atomic_cmpxchg(&v, old, new); } while (!atomic_try_cmpxchg(&v, &old, new));
+ if (tmp == old)
+ break;
+ old = tmp;
+ }
+
+NB. try_cmpxchg() also generates better code on some platforms (notably x86)
+where the function more closely matches the hardware instruction.