Hi,
While looking at the atomic_t definition for i386, I found the fact that
"counter" isn't volatile is rather strange. Especially since a
volatile_read() doesn't add the "volatile" which would make the (probably
bogus example):
while (atomic_read(&atom_var));
dangerous as gcc might optimize it into registers... [1]
Granted, the example is probably not a good one, but I hope it shows the
problem.
Stranger things might happen if the variable is also modified from
interrupt-context... as there is nothing that stops gcc from optimizing
the variable in the the non-interrupt code into registers.
The patch below will make the counter always volatile; it seems to be the
correct thing to do.
Greetings,
Arjan van de Ven
[1] No doubt the crusoe will handle this nicely
--- linux/include/asm-i386/atomic.h.org Tue Aug 29 18:44:42 2000
+++ linux/include/asm-i386/atomic.h Tue Aug 29 18:44:59 2000
@@ -19,11 +19,7 @@
*/
#define __atomic_fool_gcc(x) (*(volatile struct { int a[100]; } *)x)
-#ifdef __SMP__
typedef struct { volatile int counter; } atomic_t;
-#else
-typedef struct { int counter; } atomic_t;
-#endif
#define ATOMIC_INIT(i) { (i) }
-
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