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authorEli Friedman <eli.friedman@gmail.com>2011-08-22 21:35:27 +0000
committerEli Friedman <eli.friedman@gmail.com>2011-08-22 21:35:27 +0000
commit234bccd1947bb06e35dce6312df2daa7ccfff4eb (patch)
tree9a06877f34e398ec24e73842b851ded14b1ad6c8 /docs
parent838130e3b97c2fa77fb9b89eabbdf149d8e519f1 (diff)
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Some minor wording updates and cross-linking for atomic docs. Explicitly note that we don't try to portably define what volatile in LLVM IR means.
git-svn-id: https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk@138274 91177308-0d34-0410-b5e6-96231b3b80d8
Diffstat (limited to 'docs')
-rw-r--r--docs/Atomics.html17
-rw-r--r--docs/LangRef.html36
2 files changed, 34 insertions, 19 deletions
diff --git a/docs/Atomics.html b/docs/Atomics.html
index 357f43167b..d4a3795b9d 100644
--- a/docs/Atomics.html
+++ b/docs/Atomics.html
@@ -121,9 +121,10 @@ void f(int* a) {
</pre>
<p>However, LLVM is not allowed to transform the former to the latter: it could
- introduce undefined behavior if another thread can access x at the same time.
- (This example is particularly of interest because before the concurrency model
- was implemented, LLVM would perform this transformation.)</p>
+ indirectly introduce undefined behavior if another thread can access x at
+ the same time. (This example is particularly of interest because before the
+ concurrency model was implemented, LLVM would perform this
+ transformation.)</p>
<p>Note that speculative loads are allowed; a load which
is part of a race returns <code>undef</code>, but does not have undefined
@@ -177,7 +178,7 @@ void f(int* a) {
<p>In order to achieve a balance between performance and necessary guarantees,
there are six levels of atomicity. They are listed in order of strength;
each level includes all the guarantees of the previous level except for
- Acquire/Release.</p>
+ Acquire/Release. (See also <a href="LangRef.html#ordering">LangRef</a>.)</p>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<h3>
@@ -188,15 +189,15 @@ void f(int* a) {
<p>NotAtomic is the obvious, a load or store which is not atomic. (This isn't
really a level of atomicity, but is listed here for comparison.) This is
- essentially a regular load or store. If code accesses a memory location
- from multiple threads at the same time, the resulting loads return
- 'undef'.</p>
+ essentially a regular load or store. If there is a race on a given memory
+ location, loads from that location return undef.</p>
<dl>
<dt>Relevant standard</dt>
<dd>This is intended to match shared variables in C/C++, and to be used
in any other context where memory access is necessary, and
- a race is impossible.
+ a race is impossible. (The precise definition is in
+ <a href="LangRef.html#memmodel">LangRef</a>.)
<dt>Notes for frontends</dt>
<dd>The rule is essentially that all memory accessed with basic loads and
stores by multiple threads should be protected by a lock or other
diff --git a/docs/LangRef.html b/docs/LangRef.html
index bf834c211a..fa4d74b67f 100644
--- a/docs/LangRef.html
+++ b/docs/LangRef.html
@@ -1497,6 +1497,9 @@ or to register signal handlers. Nonetheless, there are platform-specific
ways to create them, and we define LLVM IR's behavior in their presence. This
model is inspired by the C++0x memory model.</p>
+<p>For a more informal introduction to this model, see the
+<a href="Atomics.html">LLVM Atomic Instructions and Concurrency Guide</a>.
+
<p>We define a <i>happens-before</i> partial order as the least partial order
that</p>
<ul>
@@ -1533,7 +1536,12 @@ any write to the same byte, except:</p>
<p>Given that definition, <var>R<sub>byte</sub></var> is defined as follows:
<ul>
- <li>If there is no write to the same byte that happens before
+ <li>If <var>R</var> is volatile, the result is target-dependent. (Volatile
+ is supposed to give guarantees which can support
+ <code>sig_atomic_t</code> in C/C++, and may be used for accesses to
+ addresses which do not behave like normal memory. It does not generally
+ provide cross-thread synchronization.)
+ <li>Otherwise, if there is no write to the same byte that happens before
<var>R<sub>byte</sub></var>, <var>R<sub>byte</sub></var> returns
<tt>undef</tt> for that byte.
<li>Otherwise, if <var>R<sub>byte</sub></var> may see exactly one write,
@@ -1590,10 +1598,15 @@ as if it writes to the relevant surrounding bytes.
that determines which other atomic instructions on the same address they
<i>synchronize with</i>. These semantics are borrowed from Java and C++0x,
but are somewhat more colloquial. If these descriptions aren't precise enough,
-check those specs. <a href="#i_fence"><code>fence</code></a> instructions
+check those specs (see spec references in the
+<a href="Atomic.html#introduction">atomics guide</a>).
+<a href="#i_fence"><code>fence</code></a> instructions
treat these orderings somewhat differently since they don't take an address.
See that instruction's documentation for details.</p>
+<p>For a simpler introduction to the ordering constraints, see the
+<a href="Atomics.html">LLVM Atomic Instructions and Concurrency Guide</a>.</p>
+
<dl>
<dt><code>unordered</code></dt>
<dd>The set of values that can be read is governed by the happens-before
@@ -1618,18 +1631,20 @@ address's modification order. This disallows reordering of
<code>monotonic</code> (or stronger) operations on the same address. If an
address is written <code>monotonic</code>ally by one thread, and other threads
<code>monotonic</code>ally read that address repeatedly, the other threads must
-eventually see the write. This is intended to model C++'s relaxed atomic
-variables.</dd>
+eventually see the write. This corresponds to the C++0x/C1x
+<code>memory_order_relaxed</code>.</dd>
<dt><code>acquire</code></dt>
<dd>In addition to the guarantees of <code>monotonic</code>, if this operation
reads a value written by a <code>release</code> atomic operation, it
-<i>synchronizes-with</i> that operation.</dd>
+<i>synchronizes-with</i> that operation. This corresponds to the C++0x/C1x
+<code>memory_order_acquire</code>.</dd>
<dt><code>release</code></dt>
<dd>In addition to the guarantees of <code>monotonic</code>,
-a <i>synchronizes-with</i> edge may be formed by an <code>acquire</code>
-operation.</dd>
+a <i>synchronizes-with</i> edge may be formed with an <code>acquire</code>
+operation. This is intended to model C++'s <code>memory_order_release</code>.</dd>
<dt><code>acq_rel</code> (acquire+release)</dt><dd>Acts as both an
-<code>acquire</code> and <code>release</code> operation on its address.</dd>
+<code>acquire</code> and <code>release</code> operation on its address.
+This corresponds to the C++0x/C1x <code>memory_order_acq_rel</code>.</dd>
<dt><code>seq_cst</code> (sequentially consistent)</dt><dd>
<dd>In addition to the guarantees of <code>acq_rel</code>
(<code>acquire</code> for an operation which only reads, <code>release</code>
@@ -1637,9 +1652,8 @@ for an operation which only writes), there is a global total order on all
sequentially-consistent operations on all addresses, which is consistent with
the <i>happens-before</i> partial order and with the modification orders of
all the affected addresses. Each sequentially-consistent read sees the last
-preceding write to the same address in this global order. This is intended
-to model C++'s sequentially-consistent atomic variables and Java's volatile
-shared variables.</dd>
+preceding write to the same address in this global order. This corresponds
+to the C++0x/C1x <code>memory_order_seq_cst</code> and Java volatile.</dd>
</dl>
<p id="singlethread">If an atomic operation is marked <code>singlethread</code>,