Re: [PATCH v2 0/4] atomic: Fixes to smp_mb__{before,after}_atomic() and mips.

[David Howells]

Peter Zijlstra <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Basically we fail for:
> 
> 	*x = 1;
> 	atomic_inc(u);
> 	smp_mb__after_atomic();
> 	r0 = *y;
> 
> Because, while the atomic_inc() implies memory order, it
> (surprisingly) does not provide a compiler barrier. This then allows
> the compiler to re-order like so:

To quote memory-barriers.txt:

 (*) smp_mb__before_atomic();
 (*) smp_mb__after_atomic();

     These are for use with atomic (such as add, subtract, increment and
     decrement) functions that don't return a value, especially when used for
     reference counting.  These functions do not imply memory barriers.

so it's entirely to be expected?

David