atomic_value() vs. atomic_fetch() should be rather unambiguous.
atomic_read_uncached() begs the question of precisely which cache we are
avoiding, and could itself cause confusion.
So, if I were writing atomic.h from scratch, knowing what I know now, I think
I'd use atomic_value() and atomic_fetch(). The problem is that there are a lot
of existing users of atomic_read(), and we can't write a script to correctly
guess their intent. I'm not sure auditing all uses of atomic_read() is really
worth the comparatively miniscule benefits.
We could play it safe and convert them all to atomic_fetch(), or we could
acknowledge that changing the semantics 8 months ago was not at all disastrous,
and make them all atomic_value(), allowing people to use atomic_fetch() where
they really care.
-- Chris
-