rcu: Fix rcu_barrier() documentation

There was a time when rcu_barrier() was guaranteed to wait for at least
a grace period, but that time ended due to energy-efficiency concerns.
So now rcu_barrier() is a no-op if there are no RCU callbacks queued in
the system.  This commit updates the documentation to reflect this change.

Now, rcu_barrier() often does wait for a grace period, so, one could
imagine some modification to rcu_barrier() to more efficiently handle
cases where both rcu_barrier() and a grace period are needed.  But this
must wait until someone shows a real-world need for a change.

Reported-by: Bob Copeland <bob@cozybit.com>
Reported-by: Johannes Berg <johannes@sipsolutions.net>
Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Reviewed-by: Josh Triplett <josh@joshtriplett.org>

1 files changed, 8 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/rcubarrier.txt b/Documentation/RCU/rcubarrier.txt
index 2e319d1b9ef2..b10cfe711e68 100644
--- a/Documentation/RCU/rcubarrier.txt
+++ b/Documentation/RCU/rcubarrier.txt
@@ -70,10 +70,14 @@ in realtime kernels in order to avoid excessive scheduling latencies.
 
 rcu_barrier()
 
-We instead need the rcu_barrier() primitive. This primitive is similar
-to synchronize_rcu(), but instead of waiting solely for a grace
-period to elapse, it also waits for all outstanding RCU callbacks to
-complete. Pseudo-code using rcu_barrier() is as follows:
+We instead need the rcu_barrier() primitive.  Rather than waiting for
+a grace period to elapse, rcu_barrier() waits for all outstanding RCU
+callbacks to complete.  Please note that rcu_barrier() does -not- imply
+synchronize_rcu(), in particular, if there are no RCU callbacks queued
+anywhere, rcu_barrier() is within its rights to return immediately,
+without waiting for a grace period to elapse.
+
+Pseudo-code using rcu_barrier() is as follows:
 
    1. Prevent any new RCU callbacks from being posted.
    2. Execute rcu_barrier().