Re: Why does test_bit() take a volatile addr?
From: Oliver Neukum
Date: Mon Sep 16 2013 - 04:40:08 EST
On Mon, 2013-09-16 at 13:38 +0930, Rusty Russell wrote:
> Predates git, does anyone remember the rationale?
>
> ie:
> int test_bit(int nr, const volatile unsigned long *addr)
>
> I noticed because gcc failed to elimiate some code in a patch I was
> playing with.
>
> I'm nervous about subtle bugs involved in ripping it out, even if noone
> knows why. Should I add __test_bit()?
It seems to me that if you do
b = *ptr & 0xf;
c = b << 2;
if (test_bit(1, ptr))
the compiler could optimize away the memory access on ptr without
the volatile. We'd have to add a lot of mb().
Regards
Oliver
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/