drivers: power: report battery voltage in AOSP compatible format
[GitHub/mt8127/android_kernel_alcatel_ttab.git] / Documentation / atomic_ops.txt
1 Semantics and Behavior of Atomic and
2 Bitmask Operations
3
4 David S. Miller
5
6 This document is intended to serve as a guide to Linux port
7 maintainers on how to implement atomic counter, bitops, and spinlock
8 interfaces properly.
9
10 The atomic_t type should be defined as a signed integer.
11 Also, it should be made opaque such that any kind of cast to a normal
12 C integer type will fail. Something like the following should
13 suffice:
14
15 typedef struct { int counter; } atomic_t;
16
17 Historically, counter has been declared volatile. This is now discouraged.
18 See Documentation/volatile-considered-harmful.txt for the complete rationale.
19
20 local_t is very similar to atomic_t. If the counter is per CPU and only
21 updated by one CPU, local_t is probably more appropriate. Please see
22 Documentation/local_ops.txt for the semantics of local_t.
23
24 The first operations to implement for atomic_t's are the initializers and
25 plain reads.
26
27 #define ATOMIC_INIT(i) { (i) }
28 #define atomic_set(v, i) ((v)->counter = (i))
29
30 The first macro is used in definitions, such as:
31
32 static atomic_t my_counter = ATOMIC_INIT(1);
33
34 The initializer is atomic in that the return values of the atomic operations
35 are guaranteed to be correct reflecting the initialized value if the
36 initializer is used before runtime. If the initializer is used at runtime, a
37 proper implicit or explicit read memory barrier is needed before reading the
38 value with atomic_read from another thread.
39
40 The second interface can be used at runtime, as in:
41
42 struct foo { atomic_t counter; };
43 ...
44
45 struct foo *k;
46
47 k = kmalloc(sizeof(*k), GFP_KERNEL);
48 if (!k)
49 return -ENOMEM;
50 atomic_set(&k->counter, 0);
51
52 The setting is atomic in that the return values of the atomic operations by
53 all threads are guaranteed to be correct reflecting either the value that has
54 been set with this operation or set with another operation. A proper implicit
55 or explicit memory barrier is needed before the value set with the operation
56 is guaranteed to be readable with atomic_read from another thread.
57
58 Next, we have:
59
60 #define atomic_read(v) ((v)->counter)
61
62 which simply reads the counter value currently visible to the calling thread.
63 The read is atomic in that the return value is guaranteed to be one of the
64 values initialized or modified with the interface operations if a proper
65 implicit or explicit memory barrier is used after possible runtime
66 initialization by any other thread and the value is modified only with the
67 interface operations. atomic_read does not guarantee that the runtime
68 initialization by any other thread is visible yet, so the user of the
69 interface must take care of that with a proper implicit or explicit memory
70 barrier.
71
72 *** WARNING: atomic_read() and atomic_set() DO NOT IMPLY BARRIERS! ***
73
74 Some architectures may choose to use the volatile keyword, barriers, or inline
75 assembly to guarantee some degree of immediacy for atomic_read() and
76 atomic_set(). This is not uniformly guaranteed, and may change in the future,
77 so all users of atomic_t should treat atomic_read() and atomic_set() as simple
78 C statements that may be reordered or optimized away entirely by the compiler
79 or processor, and explicitly invoke the appropriate compiler and/or memory
80 barrier for each use case. Failure to do so will result in code that may
81 suddenly break when used with different architectures or compiler
82 optimizations, or even changes in unrelated code which changes how the
83 compiler optimizes the section accessing atomic_t variables.
84
85 *** YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ***
86
87 Properly aligned pointers, longs, ints, and chars (and unsigned
88 equivalents) may be atomically loaded from and stored to in the same
89 sense as described for atomic_read() and atomic_set(). The ACCESS_ONCE()
90 macro should be used to prevent the compiler from using optimizations
91 that might otherwise optimize accesses out of existence on the one hand,
92 or that might create unsolicited accesses on the other.
93
94 For example consider the following code:
95
96 while (a > 0)
97 do_something();
98
99 If the compiler can prove that do_something() does not store to the
100 variable a, then the compiler is within its rights transforming this to
101 the following:
102
103 tmp = a;
104 if (a > 0)
105 for (;;)
106 do_something();
107
108 If you don't want the compiler to do this (and you probably don't), then
109 you should use something like the following:
110
111 while (ACCESS_ONCE(a) < 0)
112 do_something();
113
114 Alternatively, you could place a barrier() call in the loop.
115
116 For another example, consider the following code:
117
118 tmp_a = a;
119 do_something_with(tmp_a);
120 do_something_else_with(tmp_a);
121
122 If the compiler can prove that do_something_with() does not store to the
123 variable a, then the compiler is within its rights to manufacture an
124 additional load as follows:
125
126 tmp_a = a;
127 do_something_with(tmp_a);
128 tmp_a = a;
129 do_something_else_with(tmp_a);
130
131 This could fatally confuse your code if it expected the same value
132 to be passed to do_something_with() and do_something_else_with().
133
134 The compiler would be likely to manufacture this additional load if
135 do_something_with() was an inline function that made very heavy use
136 of registers: reloading from variable a could save a flush to the
137 stack and later reload. To prevent the compiler from attacking your
138 code in this manner, write the following:
139
140 tmp_a = ACCESS_ONCE(a);
141 do_something_with(tmp_a);
142 do_something_else_with(tmp_a);
143
144 For a final example, consider the following code, assuming that the
145 variable a is set at boot time before the second CPU is brought online
146 and never changed later, so that memory barriers are not needed:
147
148 if (a)
149 b = 9;
150 else
151 b = 42;
152
153 The compiler is within its rights to manufacture an additional store
154 by transforming the above code into the following:
155
156 b = 42;
157 if (a)
158 b = 9;
159
160 This could come as a fatal surprise to other code running concurrently
161 that expected b to never have the value 42 if a was zero. To prevent
162 the compiler from doing this, write something like:
163
164 if (a)
165 ACCESS_ONCE(b) = 9;
166 else
167 ACCESS_ONCE(b) = 42;
168
169 Don't even -think- about doing this without proper use of memory barriers,
170 locks, or atomic operations if variable a can change at runtime!
171
172 *** WARNING: ACCESS_ONCE() DOES NOT IMPLY A BARRIER! ***
173
174 Now, we move onto the atomic operation interfaces typically implemented with
175 the help of assembly code.
176
177 void atomic_add(int i, atomic_t *v);
178 void atomic_sub(int i, atomic_t *v);
179 void atomic_inc(atomic_t *v);
180 void atomic_dec(atomic_t *v);
181
182 These four routines add and subtract integral values to/from the given
183 atomic_t value. The first two routines pass explicit integers by
184 which to make the adjustment, whereas the latter two use an implicit
185 adjustment value of "1".
186
187 One very important aspect of these two routines is that they DO NOT
188 require any explicit memory barriers. They need only perform the
189 atomic_t counter update in an SMP safe manner.
190
191 Next, we have:
192
193 int atomic_inc_return(atomic_t *v);
194 int atomic_dec_return(atomic_t *v);
195
196 These routines add 1 and subtract 1, respectively, from the given
197 atomic_t and return the new counter value after the operation is
198 performed.
199
200 Unlike the above routines, it is required that explicit memory
201 barriers are performed before and after the operation. It must be
202 done such that all memory operations before and after the atomic
203 operation calls are strongly ordered with respect to the atomic
204 operation itself.
205
206 For example, it should behave as if a smp_mb() call existed both
207 before and after the atomic operation.
208
209 If the atomic instructions used in an implementation provide explicit
210 memory barrier semantics which satisfy the above requirements, that is
211 fine as well.
212
213 Let's move on:
214
215 int atomic_add_return(int i, atomic_t *v);
216 int atomic_sub_return(int i, atomic_t *v);
217
218 These behave just like atomic_{inc,dec}_return() except that an
219 explicit counter adjustment is given instead of the implicit "1".
220 This means that like atomic_{inc,dec}_return(), the memory barrier
221 semantics are required.
222
223 Next:
224
225 int atomic_inc_and_test(atomic_t *v);
226 int atomic_dec_and_test(atomic_t *v);
227
228 These two routines increment and decrement by 1, respectively, the
229 given atomic counter. They return a boolean indicating whether the
230 resulting counter value was zero or not.
231
232 It requires explicit memory barrier semantics around the operation as
233 above.
234
235 int atomic_sub_and_test(int i, atomic_t *v);
236
237 This is identical to atomic_dec_and_test() except that an explicit
238 decrement is given instead of the implicit "1". It requires explicit
239 memory barrier semantics around the operation.
240
241 int atomic_add_negative(int i, atomic_t *v);
242
243 The given increment is added to the given atomic counter value. A
244 boolean is return which indicates whether the resulting counter value
245 is negative. It requires explicit memory barrier semantics around the
246 operation.
247
248 Then:
249
250 int atomic_xchg(atomic_t *v, int new);
251
252 This performs an atomic exchange operation on the atomic variable v, setting
253 the given new value. It returns the old value that the atomic variable v had
254 just before the operation.
255
256 atomic_xchg requires explicit memory barriers around the operation.
257
258 int atomic_cmpxchg(atomic_t *v, int old, int new);
259
260 This performs an atomic compare exchange operation on the atomic value v,
261 with the given old and new values. Like all atomic_xxx operations,
262 atomic_cmpxchg will only satisfy its atomicity semantics as long as all
263 other accesses of *v are performed through atomic_xxx operations.
264
265 atomic_cmpxchg requires explicit memory barriers around the operation.
266
267 The semantics for atomic_cmpxchg are the same as those defined for 'cas'
268 below.
269
270 Finally:
271
272 int atomic_add_unless(atomic_t *v, int a, int u);
273
274 If the atomic value v is not equal to u, this function adds a to v, and
275 returns non zero. If v is equal to u then it returns zero. This is done as
276 an atomic operation.
277
278 atomic_add_unless requires explicit memory barriers around the operation
279 unless it fails (returns 0).
280
281 atomic_inc_not_zero, equivalent to atomic_add_unless(v, 1, 0)
282
283
284 If a caller requires memory barrier semantics around an atomic_t
285 operation which does not return a value, a set of interfaces are
286 defined which accomplish this:
287
288 void smp_mb__before_atomic_dec(void);
289 void smp_mb__after_atomic_dec(void);
290 void smp_mb__before_atomic_inc(void);
291 void smp_mb__after_atomic_inc(void);
292
293 For example, smp_mb__before_atomic_dec() can be used like so:
294
295 obj->dead = 1;
296 smp_mb__before_atomic_dec();
297 atomic_dec(&obj->ref_count);
298
299 It makes sure that all memory operations preceding the atomic_dec()
300 call are strongly ordered with respect to the atomic counter
301 operation. In the above example, it guarantees that the assignment of
302 "1" to obj->dead will be globally visible to other cpus before the
303 atomic counter decrement.
304
305 Without the explicit smp_mb__before_atomic_dec() call, the
306 implementation could legally allow the atomic counter update visible
307 to other cpus before the "obj->dead = 1;" assignment.
308
309 The other three interfaces listed are used to provide explicit
310 ordering with respect to memory operations after an atomic_dec() call
311 (smp_mb__after_atomic_dec()) and around atomic_inc() calls
312 (smp_mb__{before,after}_atomic_inc()).
313
314 A missing memory barrier in the cases where they are required by the
315 atomic_t implementation above can have disastrous results. Here is
316 an example, which follows a pattern occurring frequently in the Linux
317 kernel. It is the use of atomic counters to implement reference
318 counting, and it works such that once the counter falls to zero it can
319 be guaranteed that no other entity can be accessing the object:
320
321 static void obj_list_add(struct obj *obj, struct list_head *head)
322 {
323 obj->active = 1;
324 list_add(&obj->list, head);
325 }
326
327 static void obj_list_del(struct obj *obj)
328 {
329 list_del(&obj->list);
330 obj->active = 0;
331 }
332
333 static void obj_destroy(struct obj *obj)
334 {
335 BUG_ON(obj->active);
336 kfree(obj);
337 }
338
339 struct obj *obj_list_peek(struct list_head *head)
340 {
341 if (!list_empty(head)) {
342 struct obj *obj;
343
344 obj = list_entry(head->next, struct obj, list);
345 atomic_inc(&obj->refcnt);
346 return obj;
347 }
348 return NULL;
349 }
350
351 void obj_poke(void)
352 {
353 struct obj *obj;
354
355 spin_lock(&global_list_lock);
356 obj = obj_list_peek(&global_list);
357 spin_unlock(&global_list_lock);
358
359 if (obj) {
360 obj->ops->poke(obj);
361 if (atomic_dec_and_test(&obj->refcnt))
362 obj_destroy(obj);
363 }
364 }
365
366 void obj_timeout(struct obj *obj)
367 {
368 spin_lock(&global_list_lock);
369 obj_list_del(obj);
370 spin_unlock(&global_list_lock);
371
372 if (atomic_dec_and_test(&obj->refcnt))
373 obj_destroy(obj);
374 }
375
376 (This is a simplification of the ARP queue management in the
377 generic neighbour discover code of the networking. Olaf Kirch
378 found a bug wrt. memory barriers in kfree_skb() that exposed
379 the atomic_t memory barrier requirements quite clearly.)
380
381 Given the above scheme, it must be the case that the obj->active
382 update done by the obj list deletion be visible to other processors
383 before the atomic counter decrement is performed.
384
385 Otherwise, the counter could fall to zero, yet obj->active would still
386 be set, thus triggering the assertion in obj_destroy(). The error
387 sequence looks like this:
388
389 cpu 0 cpu 1
390 obj_poke() obj_timeout()
391 obj = obj_list_peek();
392 ... gains ref to obj, refcnt=2
393 obj_list_del(obj);
394 obj->active = 0 ...
395 ... visibility delayed ...
396 atomic_dec_and_test()
397 ... refcnt drops to 1 ...
398 atomic_dec_and_test()
399 ... refcount drops to 0 ...
400 obj_destroy()
401 BUG() triggers since obj->active
402 still seen as one
403 obj->active update visibility occurs
404
405 With the memory barrier semantics required of the atomic_t operations
406 which return values, the above sequence of memory visibility can never
407 happen. Specifically, in the above case the atomic_dec_and_test()
408 counter decrement would not become globally visible until the
409 obj->active update does.
410
411 As a historical note, 32-bit Sparc used to only allow usage of
412 24-bits of its atomic_t type. This was because it used 8 bits
413 as a spinlock for SMP safety. Sparc32 lacked a "compare and swap"
414 type instruction. However, 32-bit Sparc has since been moved over
415 to a "hash table of spinlocks" scheme, that allows the full 32-bit
416 counter to be realized. Essentially, an array of spinlocks are
417 indexed into based upon the address of the atomic_t being operated
418 on, and that lock protects the atomic operation. Parisc uses the
419 same scheme.
420
421 Another note is that the atomic_t operations returning values are
422 extremely slow on an old 386.
423
424 We will now cover the atomic bitmask operations. You will find that
425 their SMP and memory barrier semantics are similar in shape and scope
426 to the atomic_t ops above.
427
428 Native atomic bit operations are defined to operate on objects aligned
429 to the size of an "unsigned long" C data type, and are least of that
430 size. The endianness of the bits within each "unsigned long" are the
431 native endianness of the cpu.
432
433 void set_bit(unsigned long nr, volatile unsigned long *addr);
434 void clear_bit(unsigned long nr, volatile unsigned long *addr);
435 void change_bit(unsigned long nr, volatile unsigned long *addr);
436
437 These routines set, clear, and change, respectively, the bit number
438 indicated by "nr" on the bit mask pointed to by "ADDR".
439
440 They must execute atomically, yet there are no implicit memory barrier
441 semantics required of these interfaces.
442
443 int test_and_set_bit(unsigned long nr, volatile unsigned long *addr);
444 int test_and_clear_bit(unsigned long nr, volatile unsigned long *addr);
445 int test_and_change_bit(unsigned long nr, volatile unsigned long *addr);
446
447 Like the above, except that these routines return a boolean which
448 indicates whether the changed bit was set _BEFORE_ the atomic bit
449 operation.
450
451 WARNING! It is incredibly important that the value be a boolean,
452 ie. "0" or "1". Do not try to be fancy and save a few instructions by
453 declaring the above to return "long" and just returning something like
454 "old_val & mask" because that will not work.
455
456 For one thing, this return value gets truncated to int in many code
457 paths using these interfaces, so on 64-bit if the bit is set in the
458 upper 32-bits then testers will never see that.
459
460 One great example of where this problem crops up are the thread_info
461 flag operations. Routines such as test_and_set_ti_thread_flag() chop
462 the return value into an int. There are other places where things
463 like this occur as well.
464
465 These routines, like the atomic_t counter operations returning values,
466 require explicit memory barrier semantics around their execution. All
467 memory operations before the atomic bit operation call must be made
468 visible globally before the atomic bit operation is made visible.
469 Likewise, the atomic bit operation must be visible globally before any
470 subsequent memory operation is made visible. For example:
471
472 obj->dead = 1;
473 if (test_and_set_bit(0, &obj->flags))
474 /* ... */;
475 obj->killed = 1;
476
477 The implementation of test_and_set_bit() must guarantee that
478 "obj->dead = 1;" is visible to cpus before the atomic memory operation
479 done by test_and_set_bit() becomes visible. Likewise, the atomic
480 memory operation done by test_and_set_bit() must become visible before
481 "obj->killed = 1;" is visible.
482
483 Finally there is the basic operation:
484
485 int test_bit(unsigned long nr, __const__ volatile unsigned long *addr);
486
487 Which returns a boolean indicating if bit "nr" is set in the bitmask
488 pointed to by "addr".
489
490 If explicit memory barriers are required around clear_bit() (which
491 does not return a value, and thus does not need to provide memory
492 barrier semantics), two interfaces are provided:
493
494 void smp_mb__before_clear_bit(void);
495 void smp_mb__after_clear_bit(void);
496
497 They are used as follows, and are akin to their atomic_t operation
498 brothers:
499
500 /* All memory operations before this call will
501 * be globally visible before the clear_bit().
502 */
503 smp_mb__before_clear_bit();
504 clear_bit( ... );
505
506 /* The clear_bit() will be visible before all
507 * subsequent memory operations.
508 */
509 smp_mb__after_clear_bit();
510
511 There are two special bitops with lock barrier semantics (acquire/release,
512 same as spinlocks). These operate in the same way as their non-_lock/unlock
513 postfixed variants, except that they are to provide acquire/release semantics,
514 respectively. This means they can be used for bit_spin_trylock and
515 bit_spin_unlock type operations without specifying any more barriers.
516
517 int test_and_set_bit_lock(unsigned long nr, unsigned long *addr);
518 void clear_bit_unlock(unsigned long nr, unsigned long *addr);
519 void __clear_bit_unlock(unsigned long nr, unsigned long *addr);
520
521 The __clear_bit_unlock version is non-atomic, however it still implements
522 unlock barrier semantics. This can be useful if the lock itself is protecting
523 the other bits in the word.
524
525 Finally, there are non-atomic versions of the bitmask operations
526 provided. They are used in contexts where some other higher-level SMP
527 locking scheme is being used to protect the bitmask, and thus less
528 expensive non-atomic operations may be used in the implementation.
529 They have names similar to the above bitmask operation interfaces,
530 except that two underscores are prefixed to the interface name.
531
532 void __set_bit(unsigned long nr, volatile unsigned long *addr);
533 void __clear_bit(unsigned long nr, volatile unsigned long *addr);
534 void __change_bit(unsigned long nr, volatile unsigned long *addr);
535 int __test_and_set_bit(unsigned long nr, volatile unsigned long *addr);
536 int __test_and_clear_bit(unsigned long nr, volatile unsigned long *addr);
537 int __test_and_change_bit(unsigned long nr, volatile unsigned long *addr);
538
539 These non-atomic variants also do not require any special memory
540 barrier semantics.
541
542 The routines xchg() and cmpxchg() need the same exact memory barriers
543 as the atomic and bit operations returning values.
544
545 Spinlocks and rwlocks have memory barrier expectations as well.
546 The rule to follow is simple:
547
548 1) When acquiring a lock, the implementation must make it globally
549 visible before any subsequent memory operation.
550
551 2) When releasing a lock, the implementation must make it such that
552 all previous memory operations are globally visible before the
553 lock release.
554
555 Which finally brings us to _atomic_dec_and_lock(). There is an
556 architecture-neutral version implemented in lib/dec_and_lock.c,
557 but most platforms will wish to optimize this in assembler.
558
559 int _atomic_dec_and_lock(atomic_t *atomic, spinlock_t *lock);
560
561 Atomically decrement the given counter, and if will drop to zero
562 atomically acquire the given spinlock and perform the decrement
563 of the counter to zero. If it does not drop to zero, do nothing
564 with the spinlock.
565
566 It is actually pretty simple to get the memory barrier correct.
567 Simply satisfy the spinlock grab requirements, which is make
568 sure the spinlock operation is globally visible before any
569 subsequent memory operation.
570
571 We can demonstrate this operation more clearly if we define
572 an abstract atomic operation:
573
574 long cas(long *mem, long old, long new);
575
576 "cas" stands for "compare and swap". It atomically:
577
578 1) Compares "old" with the value currently at "mem".
579 2) If they are equal, "new" is written to "mem".
580 3) Regardless, the current value at "mem" is returned.
581
582 As an example usage, here is what an atomic counter update
583 might look like:
584
585 void example_atomic_inc(long *counter)
586 {
587 long old, new, ret;
588
589 while (1) {
590 old = *counter;
591 new = old + 1;
592
593 ret = cas(counter, old, new);
594 if (ret == old)
595 break;
596 }
597 }
598
599 Let's use cas() in order to build a pseudo-C atomic_dec_and_lock():
600
601 int _atomic_dec_and_lock(atomic_t *atomic, spinlock_t *lock)
602 {
603 long old, new, ret;
604 int went_to_zero;
605
606 went_to_zero = 0;
607 while (1) {
608 old = atomic_read(atomic);
609 new = old - 1;
610 if (new == 0) {
611 went_to_zero = 1;
612 spin_lock(lock);
613 }
614 ret = cas(atomic, old, new);
615 if (ret == old)
616 break;
617 if (went_to_zero) {
618 spin_unlock(lock);
619 went_to_zero = 0;
620 }
621 }
622
623 return went_to_zero;
624 }
625
626 Now, as far as memory barriers go, as long as spin_lock()
627 strictly orders all subsequent memory operations (including
628 the cas()) with respect to itself, things will be fine.
629
630 Said another way, _atomic_dec_and_lock() must guarantee that
631 a counter dropping to zero is never made visible before the
632 spinlock being acquired.
633
634 Note that this also means that for the case where the counter
635 is not dropping to zero, there are no memory ordering
636 requirements.