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local_t is used for atomic modifications for per-CPU data, versus
re-entrant modifications via interrupts.
local_t read-modify-write atomic operations are currently implemented
with hardware atomics (larx/stcx), which are quite slow. This patch
implements them by masking all types of interrupts that may do local_t
operations ("standard" and perf interrupts).
Rusty's benchmark (https://lkml.org/lkml/2008/12/16/450) gives the
following timings for the local_t test, in nanoseconds per iteration:
larx/stcx irq+pmu disable
_inc 38 10
_add 38 10
_read 4 4
_add_return 38 10
There are still some interrupt types (system reset, machine check, and
watchdog), which can not safely use local_t operations, because they
are not masked.
An alternative approach was proposed, using a CR bit to mark a critical
section, which is tested in the interrupt return path, and would then
branch to a fixup handler (similar to exception fixups), which re-starts
the operation. The problem with this was the complexity of the fixup
handler and the latency of the slow path.
https://lists.ozlabs.org/pipermail/linuxppc-dev/2014-November/123024.html
Signed-off-by: Madhavan Srinivasan <maddy@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Michael Ellerman <mpe@ellerman.id.au>
Linux kernel ============ This file was moved to Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst Please notice that there are several guides for kernel developers and users. These guides can be rendered in a number of formats, like HTML and PDF. In order to build the documentation, use ``make htmldocs`` or ``make pdfdocs``. There are various text files in the Documentation/ subdirectory, several of them using the Restructured Text markup notation. See Documentation/00-INDEX for a list of what is contained in each file. Please read the Documentation/process/changes.rst file, as it contains the requirements for building and running the kernel, and information about the problems which may result by upgrading your kernel.