We have quite a few APIs now which help synchronize with CPU hotplug. Among them, get/put_online_cpus() is the oldest and the most well-known, so no problems there. By extension, its easy to comprehend the new set : get/put_online_cpus_atomic(). But there is yet another set, which might appear tempting to use: cpu_hotplug_disable()/cpu_hotplug_enable(). Add comments to clarify that this latter set is NOT for general use and must be used only in specific cases where the requirement is really to _disable_ hotplug and not just to synchronize with it. Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Yasuaki Ishimatsu <isimatu.yasuaki@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: "Rafael J. Wysocki" <rafael.j.wysocki@xxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Srivatsa S. Bhat <srivatsa.bhat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> --- kernel/cpu.c | 7 +++++++ 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+) diff --git a/kernel/cpu.c b/kernel/cpu.c index 2d03398..860f51a 100644 --- a/kernel/cpu.c +++ b/kernel/cpu.c @@ -139,6 +139,13 @@ static void cpu_hotplug_done(void) * the 'cpu_hotplug_disabled' flag. The same lock is also acquired by the * hotplug path before performing hotplug operations. So acquiring that lock * guarantees mutual exclusion from any currently running hotplug operations. + * + * Note: In most cases, this is *NOT* the function you need. If you simply + * want to avoid racing with CPU hotplug operations, use get/put_online_cpus() + * or get/put_online_cpus_atomic(), depending on the situation. + * + * This set of functions is reserved for cases where you really wish to + * _disable_ CPU hotplug and not just synchronize with it. */ void cpu_hotplug_disable(void) { -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-arch" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html