Since stop_machine() is no longer used in the CPU offline path, we cannot
disable CPU hotplug using preempt_disable()/local_irq_disable() etc. We
need to use the newly introduced get/put_online_cpus_atomic() APIs.
Reflect this in the documentation.
Cc: Rob Landley <rob@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: linux-doc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Srivatsa S. Bhat <srivatsa.bhat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/cpu-hotplug.txt | 17 +++++++++++------
1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/cpu-hotplug.txt b/Documentation/cpu-hotplug.txt
index 9f40135..7f907ec 100644
--- a/Documentation/cpu-hotplug.txt
+++ b/Documentation/cpu-hotplug.txt
@@ -113,13 +113,15 @@ Never use anything other than cpumask_t to represent bitmap of CPUs.
#include <linux/cpu.h>
get_online_cpus() and put_online_cpus():
-The above calls are used to inhibit cpu hotplug operations. While the
+The above calls are used to inhibit cpu hotplug operations, when invoked from
+non-atomic context (because the above functions can sleep). While the
cpu_hotplug.refcount is non zero, the cpu_online_mask will not change.
-If you merely need to avoid cpus going away, you could also use
-preempt_disable() and preempt_enable() for those sections.
-Just remember the critical section cannot call any
-function that can sleep or schedule this process away. The preempt_disable()
-will work as long as stop_machine_run() is used to take a cpu down.
+
+However, if you are executing in atomic context (ie., you can't afford to
+sleep), and you merely need to avoid cpus going offline, you can use
+get_online_cpus_atomic() and put_online_cpus_atomic() for those sections.
+Just remember the critical section cannot call any function that can sleep or
+schedule this process away.
CPU Hotplug - Frequently Asked Questions.
@@ -360,6 +362,9 @@ A: There are two ways. If your code can be run in interrupt context, use
return err;
}
+ If my_func_on_cpu() itself cannot block, use get/put_online_cpus_atomic()
+ instead of get/put_online_cpus() to prevent CPUs from going offline.
+
Q: How do we determine how many CPUs are available for hotplug.
A: There is no clear spec defined way from ACPI that can give us that
information today. Based on some input from Natalie of Unisys,
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