rcu: documentation 1Q09 update Update the RCU documentation to call out the need for callers of primitives like call_rcu() and synchronize_rcu() to prevent subsequent RCU readers from hazard. Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/checklist.txt b/Documentation/RCU/checklist.txt index 6e253407..accfe2f 100644 --- a/Documentation/RCU/checklist.txt +++ b/Documentation/RCU/checklist.txt
@@ -298,3 +298,15 @@ Note that, rcu_assign_pointer() and rcu_dereference() relate to SRCU just as they do to other forms of RCU. + +15. The whole point of call_rcu(), synchronize_rcu(), and friends + is to wait until all pre-existing readers have finished before + carrying out some otherwise-destructive operation. It is + therefore critically important to -first- remove any path + that readers can follow that could be affected by the + destructive operation, and -only- -then- invoke call_rcu(), + synchronize_rcu(), or friends. + + Because these primitives only wait for pre-existing readers, + it is the caller's responsibility to guarantee safety to + any subsequent readers.