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-rw-r--r--Documentation/memory-barriers.txt43
1 files changed, 23 insertions, 20 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt b/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
index 1f1541862239..7133626a61d0 100644
--- a/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
+++ b/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
@@ -1733,15 +1733,15 @@ The Linux kernel has eight basic CPU memory barriers:
All memory barriers except the data dependency barriers imply a compiler
-barrier. Data dependencies do not impose any additional compiler ordering.
+barrier. Data dependencies do not impose any additional compiler ordering.
Aside: In the case of data dependencies, the compiler would be expected
to issue the loads in the correct order (eg. `a[b]` would have to load
the value of b before loading a[b]), however there is no guarantee in
the C specification that the compiler may not speculate the value of b
(eg. is equal to 1) and load a before b (eg. tmp = a[1]; if (b != 1)
-tmp = a[b]; ). There is also the problem of a compiler reloading b after
-having loaded a[b], thus having a newer copy of b than a[b]. A consensus
+tmp = a[b]; ). There is also the problem of a compiler reloading b after
+having loaded a[b], thus having a newer copy of b than a[b]. A consensus
has not yet been reached about these problems, however the READ_ONCE()
macro is a good place to start looking.
@@ -1796,6 +1796,7 @@ There are some more advanced barrier functions:
(*) lockless_dereference();
+
This can be thought of as a pointer-fetch wrapper around the
smp_read_barrier_depends() data-dependency barrier.
@@ -1897,7 +1898,7 @@ for each construct. These operations all imply certain barriers:
Memory operations issued before the ACQUIRE may be completed after
the ACQUIRE operation has completed. An smp_mb__before_spinlock(),
combined with a following ACQUIRE, orders prior stores against
- subsequent loads and stores. Note that this is weaker than smp_mb()!
+ subsequent loads and stores. Note that this is weaker than smp_mb()!
The smp_mb__before_spinlock() primitive is free on many architectures.
(2) RELEASE operation implication:
@@ -2092,9 +2093,9 @@ or:
event_indicated = 1;
wake_up_process(event_daemon);
-A write memory barrier is implied by wake_up() and co. if and only if they wake
-something up. The barrier occurs before the task state is cleared, and so sits
-between the STORE to indicate the event and the STORE to set TASK_RUNNING:
+A write memory barrier is implied by wake_up() and co. if and only if they
+wake something up. The barrier occurs before the task state is cleared, and so
+sits between the STORE to indicate the event and the STORE to set TASK_RUNNING:
CPU 1 CPU 2
=============================== ===============================
@@ -2208,7 +2209,7 @@ three CPUs; then should the following sequence of events occur:
Then there is no guarantee as to what order CPU 3 will see the accesses to *A
through *H occur in, other than the constraints imposed by the separate locks
-on the separate CPUs. It might, for example, see:
+on the separate CPUs. It might, for example, see:
*E, ACQUIRE M, ACQUIRE Q, *G, *C, *F, *A, *B, RELEASE Q, *D, *H, RELEASE M
@@ -2488,9 +2489,9 @@ The following operations are special locking primitives:
clear_bit_unlock();
__clear_bit_unlock();
-These implement ACQUIRE-class and RELEASE-class operations. These should be used in
-preference to other operations when implementing locking primitives, because
-their implementations can be optimised on many architectures.
+These implement ACQUIRE-class and RELEASE-class operations. These should be
+used in preference to other operations when implementing locking primitives,
+because their implementations can be optimised on many architectures.
[!] Note that special memory barrier primitives are available for these
situations because on some CPUs the atomic instructions used imply full memory
@@ -2570,12 +2571,12 @@ explicit barriers are used.
Normally this won't be a problem because the I/O accesses done inside such
sections will include synchronous load operations on strictly ordered I/O
-registers that form implicit I/O barriers. If this isn't sufficient then an
+registers that form implicit I/O barriers. If this isn't sufficient then an
mmiowb() may need to be used explicitly.
A similar situation may occur between an interrupt routine and two routines
-running on separate CPUs that communicate with each other. If such a case is
+running on separate CPUs that communicate with each other. If such a case is
likely, then interrupt-disabling locks should be used to guarantee ordering.
@@ -2589,8 +2590,8 @@ functions:
(*) inX(), outX():
These are intended to talk to I/O space rather than memory space, but
- that's primarily a CPU-specific concept. The i386 and x86_64 processors do
- indeed have special I/O space access cycles and instructions, but many
+ that's primarily a CPU-specific concept. The i386 and x86_64 processors
+ do indeed have special I/O space access cycles and instructions, but many
CPUs don't have such a concept.
The PCI bus, amongst others, defines an I/O space concept which - on such
@@ -2612,7 +2613,7 @@ functions:
Whether these are guaranteed to be fully ordered and uncombined with
respect to each other on the issuing CPU depends on the characteristics
- defined for the memory window through which they're accessing. On later
+ defined for the memory window through which they're accessing. On later
i386 architecture machines, for example, this is controlled by way of the
MTRR registers.
@@ -2637,10 +2638,10 @@ functions:
(*) readX_relaxed(), writeX_relaxed()
These are similar to readX() and writeX(), but provide weaker memory
- ordering guarantees. Specifically, they do not guarantee ordering with
+ ordering guarantees. Specifically, they do not guarantee ordering with
respect to normal memory accesses (e.g. DMA buffers) nor do they guarantee
- ordering with respect to LOCK or UNLOCK operations. If the latter is
- required, an mmiowb() barrier can be used. Note that relaxed accesses to
+ ordering with respect to LOCK or UNLOCK operations. If the latter is
+ required, an mmiowb() barrier can be used. Note that relaxed accesses to
the same peripheral are guaranteed to be ordered with respect to each
other.
@@ -3042,6 +3043,7 @@ The Alpha defines the Linux kernel's memory barrier model.
See the subsection on "Cache Coherency" above.
+
VIRTUAL MACHINE GUESTS
----------------------
@@ -3052,7 +3054,7 @@ barriers for this use-case would be possible but is often suboptimal.
To handle this case optimally, low-level virt_mb() etc macros are available.
These have the same effect as smp_mb() etc when SMP is enabled, but generate
-identical code for SMP and non-SMP systems. For example, virtual machine guests
+identical code for SMP and non-SMP systems. For example, virtual machine guests
should use virt_mb() rather than smp_mb() when synchronizing against a
(possibly SMP) host.
@@ -3060,6 +3062,7 @@ These are equivalent to smp_mb() etc counterparts in all other respects,
in particular, they do not control MMIO effects: to control
MMIO effects, use mandatory barriers.
+
============
EXAMPLE USES
============