Proper documentation for the design and usage of sequence counters and
sequential locks does not exist. Complete the seqlock.h documentation as
follows:
- Divide all documentation on a seqcount_t vs. seqlock_t basis. The
description for both mechanisms was intermingled, which is incorrect
since the usage constrains for each type are vastly different.
- Add an introductory paragraph describing the internal design of, and
rationale for, sequence counters.
- Document seqcount_t writer non-preemptibility requirement, which was
not previously documented anywhere, and provide a clear rationale.
- Provide template code for seqcount_t and seqlock_t initialization
and reader/writer critical sections.
- Recommend using seqlock_t by default. It implicitly handles the
serialization and non-preemptibility requirements of writers.
At seqlock.h:
- Remove references to brlocks as they've long been removed from the
kernel.
- Remove references to gcc-3.x since the kernel's minimum supported
gcc version is 4.9.
References: 0f6ed63b17 ("no need to keep brlock macros anymore...")
References: 6ec4476ac8 ("Raise gcc version requirement to 4.9")
Signed-off-by: Ahmed S. Darwish <a.darwish@linutronix.de>
Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org>
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20200720155530.1173732-2-a.darwish@linutronix.de
The kernel provides a variety of locking primitives. The nesting of these
lock types and the implications of them on RT enabled kernels is nowhere
documented.
Add initial documentation.
Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org>
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20200321113242.026561244@linutronix.de
Convert the locking documents to ReST and add them to the
kernel development book where it belongs.
Most of the stuff here is just to make Sphinx to properly
parse the text file, as they're already in good shape,
not requiring massive changes in order to be parsed.
The conversion is actually:
- add blank lines and identation in order to identify paragraphs;
- fix tables markups;
- add some lists markups;
- mark literal blocks;
- adjust title markups.
At its new index.rst, let's add a :orphan: while this is not linked to
the main index.rst file, in order to avoid build warnings.
Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+samsung@kernel.org>
Acked-by: Federico Vaga <federico.vaga@vaga.pv.it>
Ahmed S. Darwish