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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/memory-barriers.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/memory-barriers.txt | 41 |
1 files changed, 41 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt b/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt index 147ae8ec836f..a4d0a99de04d 100644 --- a/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt +++ b/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt @@ -806,6 +806,41 @@ out-guess your code. More generally, although READ_ONCE() does force the compiler to actually emit code for a given load, it does not force the compiler to use the results. +In addition, control dependencies apply only to the then-clause and +else-clause of the if-statement in question. In particular, it does +not necessarily apply to code following the if-statement: + + q = READ_ONCE(a); + if (q) { + WRITE_ONCE(b, p); + } else { + WRITE_ONCE(b, r); + } + WRITE_ONCE(c, 1); /* BUG: No ordering against the read from "a". */ + +It is tempting to argue that there in fact is ordering because the +compiler cannot reorder volatile accesses and also cannot reorder +the writes to "b" with the condition. Unfortunately for this line +of reasoning, the compiler might compile the two writes to "b" as +conditional-move instructions, as in this fanciful pseudo-assembly +language: + + ld r1,a + ld r2,p + ld r3,r + cmp r1,$0 + cmov,ne r4,r2 + cmov,eq r4,r3 + st r4,b + st $1,c + +A weakly ordered CPU would have no dependency of any sort between the load +from "a" and the store to "c". The control dependencies would extend +only to the pair of cmov instructions and the store depending on them. +In short, control dependencies apply only to the stores in the then-clause +and else-clause of the if-statement in question (including functions +invoked by those two clauses), not to code following that if-statement. + Finally, control dependencies do -not- provide transitivity. This is demonstrated by two related examples, with the initial values of x and y both being zero: @@ -869,6 +904,12 @@ In summary: atomic{,64}_read() can help to preserve your control dependency. Please see the COMPILER BARRIER section for more information. + (*) Control dependencies apply only to the then-clause and else-clause + of the if-statement containing the control dependency, including + any functions that these two clauses call. Control dependencies + do -not- apply to code following the if-statement containing the + control dependency. + (*) Control dependencies pair normally with other types of barriers. (*) Control dependencies do -not- provide transitivity. If you |