'smp_read_barrier_depends()' has gone the way of mmiowb() and so many esoteric memory barriers before it. Drop the two mentions of this deceased barrier from the LKMM informal explanation document. Signed-off-by: Will Deacon <will@xxxxxxxxxx> --- .../Documentation/explanation.txt | 26 +++++++++---------- 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-) diff --git a/tools/memory-model/Documentation/explanation.txt b/tools/memory-model/Documentation/explanation.txt index 488f11f6c588..3050bf67b8d0 100644 --- a/tools/memory-model/Documentation/explanation.txt +++ b/tools/memory-model/Documentation/explanation.txt @@ -1118,12 +1118,10 @@ maintain at least the appearance of FIFO order. In practice, this difficulty is solved by inserting a special fence between P1's two loads when the kernel is compiled for the Alpha architecture. In fact, as of version 4.15, the kernel automatically -adds this fence (called smp_read_barrier_depends() and defined as -nothing at all on non-Alpha builds) after every READ_ONCE() and atomic -load. The effect of the fence is to cause the CPU not to execute any -po-later instructions until after the local cache has finished -processing all the stores it has already received. Thus, if the code -was changed to: +adds this fence after every READ_ONCE() and atomic load on Alpha. The +effect of the fence is to cause the CPU not to execute any po-later +instructions until after the local cache has finished processing all +the stores it has already received. Thus, if the code was changed to: P1() { @@ -1142,14 +1140,14 @@ READ_ONCE() or another synchronization primitive rather than accessed directly. The LKMM requires that smp_rmb(), acquire fences, and strong fences -share this property with smp_read_barrier_depends(): They do not allow -the CPU to execute any po-later instructions (or po-later loads in the -case of smp_rmb()) until all outstanding stores have been processed by -the local cache. In the case of a strong fence, the CPU first has to -wait for all of its po-earlier stores to propagate to every other CPU -in the system; then it has to wait for the local cache to process all -the stores received as of that time -- not just the stores received -when the strong fence began. +share this property: They do not allow the CPU to execute any po-later +instructions (or po-later loads in the case of smp_rmb()) until all +outstanding stores have been processed by the local cache. In the +case of a strong fence, the CPU first has to wait for all of its +po-earlier stores to propagate to every other CPU in the system; then +it has to wait for the local cache to process all the stores received +as of that time -- not just the stores received when the strong fence +began. And of course, none of this matters for any architecture other than Alpha. -- 2.24.0.rc1.363.gb1bccd3e3d-goog