rcu: define __rcu address space modifier for sparse
This commit provides definitions for the __rcu annotation defined earlier.
This annotation permits sparse to check for correct use of RCU-protected
pointers. If a pointer that is annotated with __rcu is accessed
directly (as opposed to via rcu_dereference(), rcu_assign_pointer(),
or one of their variants), sparse can be made to complain. To enable
such complaints, use the new default-disabled CONFIG_SPARSE_RCU_POINTER
kernel configuration option. Please note that these sparse complaints are
intended to be a debugging aid, -not- a code-style-enforcement mechanism.
There are special rcu_dereference_protected() and rcu_access_pointer()
accessors for use when RCU read-side protection is not required, for
example, when no other CPU has access to the data structure in question
or while the current CPU hold the update-side lock.
This patch also updates a number of docbook comments that were showing
their age.
Signed-off-by: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Cc: Christopher Li <sparse@chrisli.org>
Reviewed-by: Josh Triplett <josh@joshtriplett.org>
5 files changed