tools/memory-model: Document categories of ordering primitives

The Linux kernel has a number of categories of ordering primitives, which
are recorded in the LKMM implementation and hinted at by cheatsheet.txt.
But there is no overview of these categories, and such an overview
is needed in order to understand multithreaded LKMM litmus tests.
This commit therefore adds an ordering.txt as well as extracting a
control-dependencies.txt from memory-barriers.txt.  It also updates the
README file.

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Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>
This commit is contained in:
Paul E. McKenney
2020-08-11 11:27:33 -07:00
parent ab8bcad67b
commit ebb477cb2f
3 changed files with 831 additions and 0 deletions
+17
View File
@@ -11,6 +11,12 @@ the material provided by documents earlier in this list.
o You are new to Linux-kernel concurrency: simple.txt
o You have some background in Linux-kernel concurrency, and would
like an overview of the types of low-level concurrency primitives
that the Linux kernel provides: ordering.txt
Here, "low level" means atomic operations to single variables.
o You are familiar with the Linux-kernel concurrency primitives
that you need, and just want to get started with LKMM litmus
tests: litmus-tests.txt
@@ -19,6 +25,9 @@ o You are familiar with Linux-kernel concurrency, and would
like a detailed intuitive understanding of LKMM, including
situations involving more than two threads: recipes.txt
o You would like a detailed understanding of what your compiler can
and cannot do to control dependencies: control-dependencies.txt
o You are familiar with Linux-kernel concurrency and the use of
LKMM, and would like a quick reference: cheatsheet.txt
@@ -41,6 +50,10 @@ README
cheatsheet.txt
Quick-reference guide to the Linux-kernel memory model.
control-dependencies.txt
Guide to preventing compiler optimizations from destroying
your control dependencies.
explanation.txt
Detailed description of the memory model.
@@ -48,6 +61,10 @@ litmus-tests.txt
The format, features, capabilities, and limitations of the litmus
tests that LKMM can evaluate.
ordering.txt
Overview of the Linux kernel's low-level memory-ordering
primitives by category.
recipes.txt
Common memory-ordering patterns.