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From: jamie@shareable•org (Jamie Lokier)
To: linux-arm-kernel@lists•infradead.org
Subject: [Kgdb-bugreport] [PATCH] ARM: change definition of cpu_relax() for ARM11MPCore
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2010 22:03:22 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20100415210322.GB26494@shareable.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20100415173609.GA29752@mvista.com>

George G. Davis wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 06:32:47PM +0100, Russell King - ARM Linux wrote:
> > On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 06:23:58PM +0100, Will Deacon wrote:
> > > This patch changes the definition of cpu_relax() to smp_mb() for ARMv6 cores,
> > > forcing the write buffer to drain while inside a polling loop on an SMP system.
> > > If the Kernel is not compiled for SMP support, this will expand to a barrier()
> > > as before.
> 
> If I've followed these threads [1][2] correctly, this ARM11 MPCore issue
> was discovered while running the "KGDB: internal test suite" (KGDB_TESTS)
> and that problem is resolved via "kgdb: use atomic_inc and atomic_dec
> instead of atomic_set" [3].  If so, isn't the original ARM11 MPCore KGDB
> cpu_relax() issue just a red herring?  Shouldn't any polling loops
> which depend on specific (hardware) write/read order implement appropriate
> barriers rather than rely on cpu_relax() to guarantee order?

Note that the need to force the write buffer to drain is _not_ an
ordering issue.  It's a buffer draining issue. :-)

I'm not sure if Linux smp_wmb() guarantees to ensure prior writes will
be visible to other CPUs in a short time, or if it only guarantees
write order.

-- Jamie

  reply	other threads:[~2010-04-15 21:03 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 13+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2010-04-12 17:23 [PATCH] ARM: change definition of cpu_relax() for ARM11MPCore Will Deacon
2010-04-12 17:32 ` Russell King - ARM Linux
2010-04-15 17:36   ` [Kgdb-bugreport] " George G. Davis
2010-04-15 21:03     ` Jamie Lokier [this message]
2010-04-16 13:54     ` Will Deacon
2010-04-19 14:39 ` Will Deacon
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2010-03-09 16:06 Will Deacon
2010-03-09 16:22 ` Russell King - ARM Linux
2010-03-09 16:35   ` Will Deacon
2010-03-09 16:49     ` Russell King - ARM Linux
2010-03-09 17:59       ` Will Deacon
2010-03-10 22:06         ` [Kgdb-bugreport] " Jason Wessel
2010-03-11  2:47           ` DDD
2010-03-11 13:53             ` Will Deacon
2010-03-11 13:29           ` Will Deacon
2010-03-11 14:51           ` Will Deacon
2010-03-16 17:26           ` Will Deacon
2010-03-16 18:52             ` Jason Wessel

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