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From: Benno Lossin <lossin@kernel.org>
To: "Miguel Ojeda" <ojeda@kernel.org>,
	"Alex Gaynor" <alex.gaynor@gmail.com>,
	"Boqun Feng" <boqun.feng@gmail.com>,
	"Gary Guo" <gary@garyguo.net>,
	"Björn Roy Baron" <bjorn3_gh@protonmail.com>,
	"Benno Lossin" <lossin@kernel.org>,
	"Andreas Hindborg" <a.hindborg@kernel.org>,
	"Alice Ryhl" <aliceryhl@google.com>,
	"Trevor Gross" <tmgross@umich.edu>,
	"Danilo Krummrich" <dakr@kernel.org>,
	"Shankari Anand" <shankari.ak0208@gmail.com>
Cc: rust-for-linux@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] rust: sync: extend module documentation of aref
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2025 14:14:38 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20250722121441.224439-1-lossin@kernel.org> (raw)

Commit 07dad44aa9a9 ("rust: kernel: move ARef and AlwaysRefCounted to
sync::aref") moved `ARef` and `AlwaysRefCounted` into their own module.
In that process only a short, single line description of the module was
added. Extend the description by explaining what is meant by "internal
reference counting", the two items in the trait & the difference to
`Arc`.

Signed-off-by: Benno Lossin <lossin@kernel.org>
---
 rust/kernel/sync/aref.rs | 15 +++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+)

diff --git a/rust/kernel/sync/aref.rs b/rust/kernel/sync/aref.rs
index dbd77bb68617..1c212238c0e5 100644
--- a/rust/kernel/sync/aref.rs
+++ b/rust/kernel/sync/aref.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,21 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
 
 //! Internal reference counting support.
+//!
+//! Many C types already have their own reference counting mechanism (e.g. by storing a
+//! `refcount_t`). This module provides support for directly using their internal reference count
+//! from Rust; instead of making users have to use an additional Rust-reference count in the form of
+//! [`Arc`].
+//!
+//! The smart pointer [`ARef<T>`] acts similarly to [`Arc<T>`] in that it holds a refcount on the
+//! underlying object, but this refcount is internal to the object. It essentially is a Rust
+//! implementation of the `get_` and `put_` pattern used in C for reference counting.
+//!
+//! To make use of [`ARef<MyType>`], `MyType` needs to implement [`AlwaysRefCounted`]. It is a trait
+//! for accessing the internal reference count of an object of the `MyType` type.
+//!
+//! [`Arc`]: crate::sync::Arc
+//! [`Arc<T>`]: crate::sync::Arc
 
 use core::{marker::PhantomData, mem::ManuallyDrop, ops::Deref, ptr::NonNull};
 

base-commit: 07dad44aa9a93b16af19e8609a10b241c352b440
-- 
2.50.0


             reply	other threads:[~2025-07-22 12:14 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 5+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2025-07-22 12:14 Benno Lossin [this message]
2025-07-23 10:25 ` Daniel Sedlak
2025-07-23 10:51   ` Miguel Ojeda
2025-08-08  3:20 ` Alexandre Courbot
2025-09-14 23:19 ` Miguel Ojeda

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