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diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/whatisRCU.rst b/Documentation/RCU/whatisRCU.rst index 77ea260efd12..1c747ac3f2c8 100644 --- a/Documentation/RCU/whatisRCU.rst +++ b/Documentation/RCU/whatisRCU.rst @@ -6,13 +6,15 @@ What is RCU? -- "Read, Copy, Update" Please note that the "What is RCU?" LWN series is an excellent place to start learning about RCU: -| 1. What is RCU, Fundamentally? http://lwn.net/Articles/262464/ -| 2. What is RCU? Part 2: Usage http://lwn.net/Articles/263130/ -| 3. RCU part 3: the RCU API http://lwn.net/Articles/264090/ -| 4. The RCU API, 2010 Edition http://lwn.net/Articles/418853/ -| 2010 Big API Table http://lwn.net/Articles/419086/ -| 5. The RCU API, 2014 Edition http://lwn.net/Articles/609904/ -| 2014 Big API Table http://lwn.net/Articles/609973/ +| 1. What is RCU, Fundamentally? https://lwn.net/Articles/262464/ +| 2. What is RCU? Part 2: Usage https://lwn.net/Articles/263130/ +| 3. RCU part 3: the RCU API https://lwn.net/Articles/264090/ +| 4. The RCU API, 2010 Edition https://lwn.net/Articles/418853/ +| 2010 Big API Table https://lwn.net/Articles/419086/ +| 5. The RCU API, 2014 Edition https://lwn.net/Articles/609904/ +| 2014 Big API Table https://lwn.net/Articles/609973/ +| 6. The RCU API, 2019 Edition https://lwn.net/Articles/777036/ +| 2019 Big API Table https://lwn.net/Articles/777165/ What is RCU? @@ -915,13 +917,18 @@ which an RCU reference is held include: The understanding that RCU provides a reference that only prevents a change of type is particularly visible with objects allocated from a slab cache marked ``SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU``. RCU operations may yield a -reference to an object from such a cache that has been concurrently -freed and the memory reallocated to a completely different object, -though of the same type. In this case RCU doesn't even protect the -identity of the object from changing, only its type. So the object -found may not be the one expected, but it will be one where it is safe -to take a reference or spinlock and then confirm that the identity -matches the expectations. +reference to an object from such a cache that has been concurrently freed +and the memory reallocated to a completely different object, though of +the same type. In this case RCU doesn't even protect the identity of the +object from changing, only its type. So the object found may not be the +one expected, but it will be one where it is safe to take a reference +(and then potentially acquiring a spinlock), allowing subsequent code +to check whether the identity matches expectations. It is tempting +to simply acquire the spinlock without first taking the reference, but +unfortunately any spinlock in a ``SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU`` object must be +initialized after each and every call to kmem_cache_alloc(), which renders +reference-free spinlock acquisition completely unsafe. Therefore, when +using ``SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU``, make proper use of a reference counter. With traditional reference counting -- such as that implemented by the kref library in Linux -- there is typically code that runs when the last @@ -1057,14 +1064,20 @@ SRCU: Initialization/cleanup:: init_srcu_struct cleanup_srcu_struct -All: lockdep-checked RCU-protected pointer access:: +All: lockdep-checked RCU utility APIs:: - rcu_access_pointer - rcu_dereference_raw RCU_LOCKDEP_WARN rcu_sleep_check RCU_NONIDLE +All: Unchecked RCU-protected pointer access:: + + rcu_dereference_raw + +All: Unchecked RCU-protected pointer access with dereferencing prohibited:: + + rcu_access_pointer + See the comment headers in the source code (or the docbook generated from them) for more information. |