> Hello!
>
> This is an updated version of the patch posted last November:
>
>
http://archives.free.net.ph/message/20071201.003721.cd6ff17c.en.html
>
> This new version permits arguments with side effects, for example:
>
> rcu_assign_pointer(global_p, p++);
>
> and also verifies that the arguments are pointers, while still avoiding
> the unnecessary memory barrier when assigning NULL to a pointer.
> This memory-barrier avoidance means that rcu_assign_pointer() is now only
> permitted for pointers (not array indexes), and so this version emits a
> compiler warning if the first argument is not a pointer. I built a "make
> allyesconfig" version on an x86 system, and received no such warnings.
> If RCU is ever applied to array indexes, then the second patch in this
> series should be applied, and the resulting rcu_assign_index() be used.
>
> Given the rather surprising history of subtlely broken implementations of
> rcu_assign_pointer(), I took the precaution of generating a full set of
> test cases and verified that memory barriers and compiler warnings were
> emitted when required. I guess it is the simple things that get you...
>
> Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
> ---
>
> rcupdate.h | 16 ++++++++++++----
> 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
>
> diff -urpNa -X dontdiff linux-2.6.24/include/linux/rcupdate.h linux-2.6.24-rap/include/linux/rcupdate.h
> --- linux-2.6.24/include/linux/rcupdate.h 2008-01-24 14:58:37.000000000 -0800
> +++ linux-2.6.24-rap/include/linux/rcupdate.h 2008-02-13 13:36:47.000000000 -0800
> @@ -270,12 +270,20 @@ extern struct lockdep_map rcu_lock_map;
> * structure after the pointer assignment. More importantly, this
> * call documents which pointers will be dereferenced by RCU read-side
> * code.
> + *
> + * Throws a compiler warning for non-pointer arguments.
> + *
> + * Does not insert a memory barrier for a NULL pointer.
> */
>
> -#define rcu_assign_pointer(p, v) ({ \
> - smp_wmb(); \
> - (p) = (v); \
> - })
> +#define rcu_assign_pointer(p, v) \
> + ({ \
> + typeof(*p) *_________p1 = (v); \
> + \
> + if (!__builtin_constant_p(v) || (_________p1 != NULL)) \
> + smp_wmb(); \
> + (p) = _________p1; \
> + })
>
