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[PATCH tip/core/rcu 06/14] documentation: Subsequent writes ordered by rcu_dereference()

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The current memory-barriers.txt does not address the possibility of
a write to a dereferenced pointer.  This should be rare, but when it
happens, we need that write -not- to be clobbered by the initialization.
This commit therefore adds an example showing a data dependency ordering
a later data-dependent write.

Reported-by: Leonid Yegoshin <Leonid.Yegoshin@imgtec.com>
Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
---
 Documentation/memory-barriers.txt | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 24 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt b/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
index 6bee0a2c43ab..e9ebeb3b1077 100644
--- a/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
+++ b/Documentation/memory-barriers.txt
@@ -555,6 +555,30 @@ between the address load and the data load:
 This enforces the occurrence of one of the two implications, and prevents the
 third possibility from arising.
 
+A data-dependency barrier must also order against dependent writes:
+
+	CPU 1		      CPU 2
+	===============	      ===============
+	{ A == 1, B == 2, C = 3, P == &A, Q == &C }
+	B = 4;
+	<write barrier>
+	WRITE_ONCE(P, &B);
+			      Q = READ_ONCE(P);
+			      <data dependency barrier>
+			      *Q = 5;
+
+The data-dependency barrier must order the read into Q with the store
+into *Q.  This prohibits this outcome:
+
+	(Q == B) && (B == 4)
+
+Please note that this pattern should be rare.  After all, the whole point
+of dependency ordering is to -prevent- writes to the data structure, along
+with the expensive cache misses associated with those writes.  This pattern
+can be used to record rare error conditions and the like, and the ordering
+prevents such records from being lost.
+
+
 [!] Note that this extremely counterintuitive situation arises most easily on
 machines with split caches, so that, for example, one cache bank processes
 even-numbered cache lines and the other bank processes odd-numbered cache
-- 
2.5.2

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[PATCH tip/core/rcu 0/14] Documentation updates for 4.6 "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 06:10 +0100
  [PATCH tip/core/rcu 01/14] documentation:  Add real-time requirements from CPU-bound workloads "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 06:10 +0100
  [PATCH tip/core/rcu 14/14] documentation: Clarify compiler store-fusion example "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 06:10 +0100
  [PATCH tip/core/rcu 12/14] documentation: Document illegality of call_rcu() from offline CPUs "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 06:10 +0100
  [PATCH tip/core/rcu 07/14] documentation: Distinguish between local and global transitivity "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 06:10 +0100
  [PATCH tip/core/rcu 05/14] documentation: Remove obsolete reference to RCU-protected indexes "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 06:10 +0100
  [PATCH tip/core/rcu 08/14] documentation:  Add alternative release-acquire outcome "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 06:10 +0100
  [PATCH tip/core/rcu 11/14] documentation: Transitivity is not cumulativity "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 06:10 +0100
  [PATCH tip/core/rcu 04/14] documentation: Add synchronize_rcu_mult() to the requirements "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 06:10 +0100
  [PATCH tip/core/rcu 13/14] documentation: Explain how RCU's combining tree fights contention "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 06:20 +0100
  [PATCH tip/core/rcu 10/14] documentation: Explain why rcu_read_lock() needs no barrier() "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 06:20 +0100
  [PATCH tip/core/rcu 03/14] documentation: Fix memory-barriers.txt section references "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 06:20 +0100
  [PATCH tip/core/rcu 02/14] documentation: Fix control dependency and identical stores "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 06:20 +0100
    Re: [PATCH tip/core/rcu 02/14] documentation: Fix control  dependency and identical stores Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com> - 2016-02-24 22:20 +0100
      Re: [PATCH tip/core/rcu 02/14] documentation: Fix control dependency  and identical stores "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 22:50 +0100
        Re: [PATCH tip/core/rcu 02/14] documentation: Fix control dependency  and identical stores Jianyu Zhan <nasa4836@gmail.com> - 2016-02-25 07:50 +0100
          Re: [PATCH tip/core/rcu 02/14] documentation: Fix control dependency  and identical stores "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-25 15:10 +0100
        Re: [PATCH tip/core/rcu 02/14] documentation: Fix control dependency  and identical stores Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> - 2016-02-25 09:30 +0100
          Re: [PATCH tip/core/rcu 02/14] documentation: Fix control dependency  and identical stores "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-25 15:10 +0100
            Re: [PATCH tip/core/rcu 02/14] documentation: Fix control dependency  and identical stores Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> - 2016-02-25 15:50 +0100
              Re: [PATCH tip/core/rcu 02/14] documentation: Fix control dependency  and identical stores "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-25 16:50 +0100
  [PATCH tip/core/rcu 06/14] documentation: Subsequent writes ordered by rcu_dereference() "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> - 2016-02-24 06:20 +0100

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