[PATCH] give explicit guidance on the use of 64 bit fields

From
Michael S. Tsirkin <>
Date
2015-04-12T16:22:00+00:00
ID
Thread
[PATCH] give explicit guidance on the use of 64 bit fields
On Sun, Apr 12, 2015 at 04:06:28PM +0000, James Bottomley wrote:
> Just saying 64 bit fields may not be atomic is true, but less helpful
> than it might be.  Add explicit guidance about what the consequences of
> non-atomicity are
>
> Signed-off-by: James Bottomley <>
>
> ---
> diff --git a/newdevice.tex b/newdevice.tex
> index c7e6221..12123b9 100644
> --- a/newdevice.tex
> +++ b/newdevice.tex
> @@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ large).
>
>  Remember that configuration fields over 32 bits wide might not be
>  atomically writable by the driver.
> +Therefore, no writeable field which triggers an action should be wider than 32
> +bits.
>
>  \section{What Device Number?}\label{sec:Creating New Device Types / What Device Number?}
>
>
>

It's best to avoid the word "should" outside normative statements.
Can you rephrase this?

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