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DateFri, 17 Aug 2007 21:13:35 -0700 (PDT)
FromLinus Torvalds <>
SubjectRe: [PATCH 0/24] make atomic_read() behave consistently across all architectures

On Sat, 18 Aug 2007, Satyam Sharma wrote:
> 
> No code does (or would do, or should do):
> 
> 	x.counter++;
> 
> on an "atomic_t x;" anyway.

That's just an example of a general problem.

No, you don't use "x.counter++". But you *do* use

	if (atomic_read(&x) <= 1)
and loading into a register is stupid and pointless, when you could just 
do it as a regular memory-operand to the cmp instruction.

And as far as the compiler is concerned, the problem is the 100% same: 
combining operations with the volatile memop.

The fact is, a compiler that thinks that

	movl mem,reg
	cmpl $val,reg

is any better than

	cmpl $val,mem

is just not a very good compiler. But when talking about "volatile", 
that's exactly what ytou always get (and always have gotten - this is 
not a regression, and I doubt gcc is alone in this).

			Linus
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