On Mon, 2010-04-19 at 13:47 +0300, Avi Kivity wrote: > On 04/19/2010 01:43 PM, Peter Zijlstra wrote: > > > >>> > >>>> + > >>>> cycle_t pvclock_clocksource_read(struct pvclock_vcpu_time_info *src) > >>>> { > >>>> struct pvclock_shadow_time shadow; > >>>> unsigned version; > >>>> cycle_t ret, offset; > >>>> + u64 last; > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> + do { > >>>> + last = last_value; > >>>> > >>> Otherwise, this assignment can see a partial update. > >>> > >> On a 32-bit guest, that is. > >> > > Right, do bear in mind that the x86 implementation of atomic64_read() is > > terrifyingly expensive, it is better to not do that read and simply use > > the result of the cmpxchg. > > > > > > atomic64_read() _is_ cmpxchg64b. Are you thinking of some clever > implementation for smp i386? No, what I was suggesting was to rewrite that loop no to need the initial read but use the cmpxchg result of the previous iteration. Something like: u64 last = 0; /* more stuff */ do { if (ret < last) return last; last = cmpxchg64(&last_value, last, ret); } while (last != ret); That only has a single cmpxchg8 in there per loop instead of two (avoiding the atomic64_read() one). -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe kvm" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html