Re: [PATCH v2] refcount: Create unchecked atomic_t implementation

From: Christoph Hellwig
Date: Thu Jun 08 2017 - 02:58:17 EST


On Wed, Jun 07, 2017 at 07:58:31PM -0700, Kees Cook wrote:
> Many subsystems will not use refcount_t unless there is a way to build the
> kernel so that there is no regression in speed compared to atomic_t. This
> adds CONFIG_REFCOUNT_FULL to enable the full refcount_t implementation
> which has the validation but is slightly slower. When not enabled,
> refcount_t uses the basic unchecked atomic_t routines, which results in
> no code changes compared to just using atomic_t directly.
>
> Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <keescook@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> This is v2 of this patch, which I've split from the arch-specific
> alternative implementation for x86. Getting this patch in will unblock
> atomic_t -> refcount_t conversion, and the x86 alternative implementation
> can be developed in parallel. Changes from v1: use better atomic ops,
> thanks to Elena and Peter.

Yeah, can we get this in ASAP? Without having to always incur the over
this will allow us to convert subsystems to refcount_t broadly.