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From: "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@kernel.org>
To: rcu@vger.kernel.org
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, kernel-team@fb.com,
	rostedt@goodmis.org, "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@kernel.org>
Subject: [PATCH rcu 5/7] doc: Update rcu_access_pointer() advice in rcu_dereference.rst
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2022 11:06:23 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20220831180625.2692892-5-paulmck@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20220831180617.GA2692480@paulmck-ThinkPad-P17-Gen-1>

This commit updates the rcu_access_pointer() advice, noting that its
return value should not be assigned to a local variable, and also noting
that there is little point in using rcu_access_pointer() within an RCU
read-side critical section.

Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>
---
 Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.rst | 14 ++++++++++----
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.rst b/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.rst
index 0b418a5b243c5..81e828c8313b8 100644
--- a/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.rst
+++ b/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.rst
@@ -128,10 +128,16 @@ Follow these rules to keep your RCU code working properly:
 		This sort of comparison occurs frequently when scanning
 		RCU-protected circular linked lists.
 
-		Note that if checks for being within an RCU read-side
-		critical section are not required and the pointer is never
-		dereferenced, rcu_access_pointer() should be used in place
-		of rcu_dereference().
+		Note that if the pointer comparison is done outside
+		of an RCU read-side critical section, and the pointer
+		is never dereferenced, rcu_access_pointer() should be
+		used in place of rcu_dereference().  In most cases,
+		it is best to avoid accidental dereferences by testing
+		the rcu_access_pointer() return value directly, without
+		assigning it to a variable.
+
+		Within an RCU read-side critical section, there is little
+		reason to use rcu_access_pointer().
 
 	-	The comparison is against a pointer that references memory
 		that was initialized "a long time ago."  The reason
-- 
2.31.1.189.g2e36527f23


  parent reply	other threads:[~2022-08-31 18:06 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 8+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2022-08-31 18:06 [PATCH rcu 0/7] RCU documentation updates for v6.1 Paul E. McKenney
2022-08-31 18:06 ` [PATCH rcu 1/7] doc: Emphasize the need for explicit RCU read-side markers Paul E. McKenney
2022-08-31 18:06 ` [PATCH rcu 2/7] doc: Call out queue_rcu_work() for blocking RCU callbacks Paul E. McKenney
2022-08-31 18:06 ` [PATCH rcu 3/7] doc: Use rcu_barrier() to rate-limit " Paul E. McKenney
2022-08-31 18:06 ` [PATCH rcu 4/7] doc: Fix list: rcu_access_pointer() is not lockdep-checked Paul E. McKenney
2022-08-31 18:06 ` Paul E. McKenney [this message]
2022-08-31 18:06 ` [PATCH rcu 6/7] doc: SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU uses cannot rely on spinlocks Paul E. McKenney
2022-08-31 18:06 ` [PATCH rcu 7/7] doc/rcu: Update LWN article URLs and add 2019 article Paul E. McKenney

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