X-Git-Url: http://git.liburcu.org/?p=urcu.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=README;h=ce498b939938868e06334e1e7d0aec87a5b5506f;hp=9d154c53832d471871f99ca0e4dc1ae5ec74109f;hb=882f335739b978d1c55be2faeed077f315afe5d7;hpb=1eade46a854eb8211be9fd32e0cf6835576deb63 diff --git a/README b/README index 9d154c5..ce498b9 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ BUILDING * CFLAGS="-m64 -g -O2" ./configure Forcing a 32-bit build with 386 backward compatibility: - * CFLAGS="-m32 -g -O2" ./configure --target=i386-pc-linux-gnu + * CFLAGS="-m32 -g -O2" ./configure --host=i386-pc-linux-gnu Forcing a 32-bit build for Sparcv9 (typical for Sparc v9) * CFLAGS="-m32 -Wa,-Av9a -g -O2" ./configure @@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ supported, with the following exceptions: support. For ARM this was introduced with gcc 4.4: http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-4.4/changes.html +Clang version 3.0 (based on LLVM 3.0) is supported. + For developers using the git tree: This source tree is based on the autotools suite from GNU to simplify @@ -73,11 +75,11 @@ API See the relevant API documentation files in doc/. The APIs provided by Userspace RCU are, by prefix: -- rcu_ : Read-Copy Update +- rcu_ : Read-Copy Update (see doc/rcu-api.txt) - cmm_ : Concurrent Memory Model - caa_ : Concurrent Architecture Abstraction -- cds_ : Concurrent Data Structures -- uatomic_: Userspace Atomic +- cds_ : Concurrent Data Structures (see doc/cds-api.txt) +- uatomic_: Userspace Atomic (see doc/uatomic-api.txt) QUICK START GUIDE @@ -232,6 +234,47 @@ Interaction with mutexes should only be taken when the RCU reader thread is "offline" (this can be performed by calling rcu_thread_offline()). +Interaction with fork() + + Special care must be taken for applications performing fork() without + any following exec(). This is caused by the fact that Linux only clones + the thread calling fork(), and thus never replicates any of the other + parent thread into the child process. Most liburcu implementations + require that all registrations (as reader, defer_rcu and call_rcu + threads) should be released before a fork() is performed, except for the + rather common scenario where fork() is immediately followed by exec() in + the child process. The only implementation not subject to that rule is + liburcu-bp, which is designed to handle fork() by calling + rcu_bp_before_fork, rcu_bp_after_fork_parent and + rcu_bp_after_fork_child. + + Applications that use call_rcu() and that fork() without + doing an immediate exec() must take special action. The parent + must invoke call_rcu_before_fork() before the fork() and + call_rcu_after_fork_parent() after the fork(). The child + process must invoke call_rcu_after_fork_child(). + Even though these three APIs are suitable for passing to + pthread_atfork(), use of pthread_atfork() is *STRONGLY + DISCOURAGED* for programs calling the glibc memory allocator + (malloc(), calloc(), free(), ...) within call_rcu callbacks. + This is due to limitations in the way glibc memory allocator + handles calls to the memory allocator from concurrent threads + while the pthread_atfork() handlers are executing. + Combining e.g.: + * call to free() from callbacks executed within call_rcu worker + threads, + * executing call_rcu atfork handlers within the glibc pthread + atfork mechanism, + will sometimes trigger interesting process hangs. This usually + hangs on a memory allocator lock within glibc. + +Thread Local Storage (TLS) + + Userspace RCU can fall back on pthread_getspecific() to emulate + TLS variables on systems where it is not available. This behavior + can be forced by specifying --disable-compiler-tls as configure + argument. + Usage of DEBUG_RCU DEBUG_RCU is used to add internal debugging self-checks to the @@ -253,24 +296,3 @@ SMP support ./configure --disable-smp-support theoretically yielding slightly better performance. - -Interaction with fork() - - Special care must be taken for applications performing fork() without - any following exec(). This is caused by the fact that Linux only clones - the thread calling fork(), and thus never replicates any of the other - parent thread into the child process. Most liburcu implementations - require that all registrations (as reader, defer_rcu and call_rcu - threads) should be released before a fork() is performed, except for the - rather common scenario where fork() is immediately followed by exec() in - the child process. The only implementation not subject to that rule is - liburcu-bp, which is designed to handle fork() by calling - rcu_bp_before_fork, rcu_bp_after_fork_parent and - rcu_bp_after_fork_child. - - Applications that use call_rcu() and that fork() without - doing an immediate exec() must take special action. The parent - must invoke call_rcu_before_fork() before the fork() and - call_rcu_after_fork_parent() after the fork(). The child - process must invoke call_rcu_after_fork_child(). - These three APIs are suitable for passing to pthread_atfork().