doc: rcu: Better clarify the rcu_segcblist ->len field
An important note under the rcu_segcblist description could use a more detailed description. Especially explanation of the scenario where the ->head field may be temporarily NULL making it not wise to rely on it to determine if callbacks are associated with the rcu_segcblist. Signed-off-by: Joel Fernandes (Google) <joel@joelfernandes.org> Cc: <kernel-team@android.com> Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.ibm.com>
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@ -928,17 +928,24 @@ this <tt>rcu_segcblist</tt> structure, <i>not</i> the <tt>->head</tt>
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pointer.
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The reason for this is that all the ready-to-invoke callbacks
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(that is, those in the <tt>RCU_DONE_TAIL</tt> segment) are extracted
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all at once at callback-invocation time.
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all at once at callback-invocation time (<tt>rcu_do_batch</tt>), due
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to which <tt>->head</tt> may be set to NULL if there are no not-done
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callbacks remaining in the <tt>rcu_segcblist</tt>.
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If callback invocation must be postponed, for example, because a
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high-priority process just woke up on this CPU, then the remaining
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callbacks are placed back on the <tt>RCU_DONE_TAIL</tt> segment.
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Either way, the <tt>->len</tt> and <tt>->len_lazy</tt> counts
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are adjusted after the corresponding callbacks have been invoked, and so
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again it is the <tt>->len</tt> count that accurately reflects whether
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or not there are callbacks associated with this <tt>rcu_segcblist</tt>
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structure.
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callbacks are placed back on the <tt>RCU_DONE_TAIL</tt> segment and
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<tt>->head</tt> once again points to the start of the segment.
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In short, the head field can briefly be <tt>NULL</tt> even though the
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CPU has callbacks present the entire time.
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Therefore, it is not appropriate to test the <tt>->head</tt> pointer
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for <tt>NULL</tt>.
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<p>In contrast, the <tt>->len</tt> and <tt>->len_lazy</tt> counts
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are adjusted only after the corresponding callbacks have been invoked.
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This means that the <tt>->len</tt> count is zero only if
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the <tt>rcu_segcblist</tt> structure really is devoid of callbacks.
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Of course, off-CPU sampling of the <tt>->len</tt> count requires
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the use of appropriate synchronization, for example, memory barriers.
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careful use of appropriate synchronization, for example, memory barriers.
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This synchronization can be a bit subtle, particularly in the case
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of <tt>rcu_barrier()</tt>.
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