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Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks

From David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no>
Newsgroups comp.arch.embedded
Subject Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks
Date 2020-03-22 21:45 +0100
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <r58iok$ee8$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References <r4g5sc$8jr$1@dont-email.me> <r4gdi2$tn$1@dont-email.me> <r58be8$nhk$1@dont-email.me>

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On 22/03/2020 19:42, Les Cargill wrote:
> David Brown wrote:
>> On 13/03/2020 15:38, pozz wrote:
>>> I'm working on a Cortex-M4 MCU and using FreeRTOS.
>>>
>>> One task:
>>>
>>> uint32_t wait_period;
>>> while(1) {
>>>    // make some things
>>>    vTaskDelay(pdMS_TO_TICKS(wait_period));
>>> }
>>>
>>> The following function can be called from another task:
>>>
>>> void set_waiting_period(uint32_t new_period) {
>>>    wait_period = new_period;
>>> }
>>>
>>>
>>> In this case, is it needed to protect the access of the shared variable
>>> wait_period with a mutex? I don't think, we are dealing with an integer
>>> variable that should be accessed (reading and writing) atomically.
>>>
>>
>> You don't need to use a mutex, as you won't have race conditions when
>> accessing it (race conditions happen when at least one thread can be
>> writing, and at least one thread reading, and the accesses are not
>> atomic).  However, you /do/ need to make the accesses volatile, or there
>> will be no guarantee that the variable will be read or written in the
>> spots where you have accessed it.
>>
> 
> Small digression: ( out of ignorance of the M3 ) - There is nothing you
> have to do with an MMU or other caching furniture to guarantee
> serialization of access? So "volatile" is known to be sufficient?

Yes, volatile is sufficient here.  Almost all processors have a serial 
processing model - that is, no matter how much super-scaling and 
out-of-order execution you have (the M3 does not have either, but the M7 
has super-scaling and can often do two instructions per cycle), the 
result is as though instructions execute fully in program order.  Writes 
can end up re-ordered before they hit memory, due to caches or write 
buffers, but this is invisible to the code.

You need data ordering instructions (like "dsb" or "dmb" on the 
Cortex-M) or MPU memory regions (such as non-cacheable areas) when the 
data is accessed by something other than the processor that reads and 
writes it.  So if you are writing data to a buffer that will be read by 
DMA, or you have a dual processor system (as found in some Cortex-M 
devices), or an SMP system (like Cortex-A devices) it's a different 
matter - you need data synchronisation.

Also remember that volatile accesses do not synchronise with 
non-volatile accesses.  You can't do some non-volatile writes to a 
buffer, then set a volatile flag and think the writes will always come 
before the flag.

> 
> I'd be tempted to put a mutex on an measure the cost because race
> conditions are quite ... challenging to test for.
> 

You avoid race conditions by design, not testing!

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Thread

Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks pozz <pozzugno@gmail.com> - 2020-03-13 15:38 +0100
  Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-13 17:49 +0100
    Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks pozz <pozzugno@gmail.com> - 2020-03-18 09:09 +0100
      Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-18 09:17 +0100
      Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Hans-Bernhard Bröker <HBBroeker@t-online.de> - 2020-03-18 17:37 +0100
        Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-18 19:23 +0100
    Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2020-03-22 13:42 -0500
      Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-22 21:45 +0100
      Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2020-03-22 20:50 -0400
        Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-23 09:09 +0100
          Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2020-03-23 08:00 -0400
            Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-23 14:21 +0100
              Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Clifford Heath <no.spam@please.net> - 2020-03-25 09:55 +1100
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-30 16:07 +0200
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Clifford Heath <no.spam@please.net> - 2020-03-31 09:02 +1100
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-31 10:57 +0200
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Clifford Heath <no.spam@please.net> - 2020-04-01 12:05 +1100
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Tauno Voipio <tauno.voipio@notused.fi.invalid> - 2020-03-30 17:49 +0300
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks kegs@provalid.com (Kent Dickey) - 2020-05-19 00:34 -0500
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Clifford Heath <no.spam@please.net> - 2020-05-19 17:40 +1000
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-05-19 12:00 +0200
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Tom Gardner <spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2020-05-19 13:48 +0100
  Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks pozz <pozzugno@gmail.com> - 2020-03-18 09:20 +0100
    Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-18 10:06 +0100
      Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks pozz <pozzugno@gmail.com> - 2020-03-18 10:59 +0100
        Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-18 11:48 +0100
          Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks upsidedown@downunder.com - 2020-03-18 20:37 +0200
            Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-18 21:24 +0100
              Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Tauno Voipio <tauno.voipio@notused.fi.invalid> - 2020-03-19 14:05 +0200
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-19 13:16 +0100
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Tauno Voipio <tauno.voipio@notused.fi.invalid> - 2020-03-19 14:27 +0200
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-19 14:13 +0100
            Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks pozz <pozzugno@gmail.com> - 2020-03-19 08:03 +0100
              Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-19 09:10 +0100
              Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks upsidedown@downunder.com - 2020-03-19 12:51 +0200
          Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks pozz <pozzugno@gmail.com> - 2020-03-19 07:40 +0100
            Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-19 09:38 +0100
              Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks pozz <pozzugno@gmail.com> - 2020-03-19 11:26 +0100
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-19 12:12 +0100
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks pozz <pozzugno@gmail.com> - 2020-03-19 15:31 +0100
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks pozz <pozzugno@gmail.com> - 2020-03-23 09:22 +0100
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2020-03-23 08:10 -0400
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks pozz <pozzugno@gmail.com> - 2020-03-23 13:47 +0100
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-03-23 14:31 +0100
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2020-03-23 13:50 -0400
            Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks Niklas Holsti <niklas.holsti@tidorum.invalid> - 2020-03-19 12:27 +0200
              Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks pozz <pozzugno@gmail.com> - 2020-03-19 11:45 +0100
                Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks upsidedown@downunder.com - 2020-03-19 13:27 +0200
    Re: Cortex-M: share an int between two tasks antispam@math.uni.wroc.pl - 2020-03-18 16:24 +0000

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