[PATCH v5 2/4] rust: sync: atomic: add atomic_per_byte_memcpy

From: Andreas Hindborg

Date: Tue Nov 10 2026 - 11:30:43 EST


Add a helper to copy `len` bytes from `src` to `dst` using byte-wise atomic
memory operations. This is the concurrent-safe counterpart of
`core::ptr::copy()` (the equivalent of standard C's `memcpy()`). Because of
the atomicity at byte level, when the copy races with another concurrent
atomic access (or when a normal read races with an atomic read), or with an
external access (from DMA or userspace), the behavior of this function is
defined: the memory is copied at (at least) byte granularity.

The helper is the building block for higher-level copy operations that need
to remain defined under racing accesses, such as the `SysMem` I/O backend,
which copies to and from memory that may be shared with hardware or user
space.

The implementation forwards to the kernel's `memcpy()`, which is
implemented in a way that byte-wise atomic memory load/store instructions
are used.

Signed-off-by: Andreas Hindborg <a.hindborg@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
rust/kernel/sync/atomic.rs | 35 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 35 insertions(+)

diff --git a/rust/kernel/sync/atomic.rs b/rust/kernel/sync/atomic.rs
index 6d27898add42..cbcb081d8674 100644
--- a/rust/kernel/sync/atomic.rs
+++ b/rust/kernel/sync/atomic.rs
@@ -848,3 +848,38 @@ pub unsafe fn cmpxchg<T: AtomicType, Ordering: ordering::Ordering>(
// per LKMM.
unsafe { Atomic::from_ptr(ptr) }.cmpxchg(old, new, o)
}
+
+/// Copy `len` bytes from `src` to `dst` using byte-wise atomic operations.
+///
+/// This is the concurrent-safe counterpart of `core::ptr::copy()` (the equivalent of standard
+/// C's `memcpy()`). Because of the atomicity at byte level, when racing with another concurrent
+/// atomic access (or when a normal read races with an atomic read), or with an external access
+/// (from DMA or userspace), the behavior of this function is defined: the memory is copied at
+/// (at least) byte granularity.
+///
+/// Implementation note: this is currently implemented by the kernel's `memcpy()`, which is
+/// implemented in a way such that byte-wise atomic memory load/store instructions are used.
+///
+/// # Safety
+///
+/// Callers must ensure that:
+///
+/// - `src` is valid for atomic reads for `len` bytes for the duration of the call.
+/// - `dst` is valid for atomic writes for `len` bytes for the duration of the call.
+/// - The memory regions `src .. src + len` and `dst .. dst + len` do not overlap.
+pub unsafe fn atomic_per_byte_memcpy(src: *const u8, dst: *mut u8, len: usize) {
+ // SAFETY: By the safety requirements of this function, the following operation will not:
+ // - Trap.
+ // - Invalidate any reference invariants.
+ // - Race with any operation by the Rust AM, as `bindings::memcpy` is a byte-wise atomic
+ // operation and all operations by the Rust AM to the involved memory areas use byte-wise
+ // atomic semantics.
+ // - Copy between overlapping regions, which `memcpy()` does not support.
+ unsafe {
+ bindings::memcpy(
+ dst.cast::<kernel::ffi::c_void>(),
+ src.cast::<kernel::ffi::c_void>(),
+ len,
+ )
+ };
+}

--
2.54.0