Re: [PATCH] lib/ida: Document locking requirements a bit better

[Daniel Vetter]

On Wed, Oct 26, 2016 at 10:39:29AM -0400, Tejun Heo wrote:
> Hello, Daniel.
> 
> On Wed, Oct 26, 2016 at 04:27:39PM +0200, Daniel Vetter wrote:
> > I wanted to wrap a bunch of ida_simple_get calls into their own
> > locking, until I dug around and read the original commit message.
> > Stuff like this should imo be added to the kernel doc, let's do that.
> 
> Generally agreed but some nits below.

I value good docs but I suck at typing them ;-)

> > @@ -927,6 +927,9 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(ida_pre_get);
> >   * and go back to the ida_pre_get() call.  If the ida is full, it will
> >   * return %-ENOSPC.
> >   *
> > + * Note that callers must ensure that concurrent access to @ida is not possible.
> > + * When simplicity trumps concurrency needs look at ida_simple_get() instead.
> 
> Maybe we can make it a bit less dramatic?

What about?

"Note that callers must ensure that concurrent access to @ida is not possible.
See ida_simple_get() for a varaint which takes care of locking.
> 
> 
> > @@ -1073,6 +1076,10 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(ida_destroy);
> >   * Allocates an id in the range start <= id < end, or returns -ENOSPC.
> >   * On memory allocation failure, returns -ENOMEM.
> >   *
> > + * Compared to ida_get_new_above() this function does its own locking and hence
> > + * is recommended everywhere where simplicity is preferred over the last bit of
> > + * speed.
> 
> Hmm... so, this isn't necessarily about speed.  For example, id
> allocation might have to happen inside a spinlock which protects a
> larger scope.  To guarantee GFP_KERNEL allocation behavior in such
> cases, the caller would have to call ida_pre_get() outside the said
> spinlock and then call ida_get_new_above() inside the lock.

Hm, ida_simple_get does that for you already ...

> I think it'd be better to explain what the simple version does and
> expects and then say that unless there are specific requirements using
> the simple version is recommended.

What about:

"Compared to ida_get_new_above() this function does its own locking, and
should be used unless there are special requirements."

-Daniel
-- 
Daniel Vetter
Software Engineer, Intel Corporation
http://blog.ffwll.ch