Re: [RFC][PATCH] Updated RCU documentation improvement

[Paul E. McKenney]

On Thu, Aug 05, 2004 at 08:17:07AM +1000, Nigel Cunningham wrote:
> Hi.
> 
> What does RCU stand for? I haven't looked very hard, but all I've seen
> is RCU, and not an expansion of the abbreviation.
> 
> Regards,

Hello, Nigel,

RCU stands for "read-copy update".  The rationale behind the name
is that readers proceed concurrently with updaters, and updaters
must make copies in order for complex updates to appear atomic
to readers.

That said, most uses of RCU simply add and delete items.  Very
few uses do in-place RCU-protected updates.

						Thanx, Paul
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