linux/Documentation/arm/swp_emulation.rst
Mauro Carvalho Chehab dc7a12bdfc docs: arm: convert docs to ReST and rename to *.rst
Converts ARM the text files to ReST, preparing them to be an
architecture book.

The conversion is actually:
  - add blank lines and identation in order to identify paragraphs;
  - fix tables markups;
  - add some lists markups;
  - mark literal blocks;
  - adjust title markups.

At its new index.rst, let's add a :orphan: while this is not linked to
the main index.rst file, in order to avoid build warnings.

Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+samsung@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by Corentin Labbe <clabbe.montjoie@gmail.com> # For sun4i-ss
2019-07-15 09:20:24 -03:00

28 lines
1.2 KiB
ReStructuredText

Software emulation of deprecated SWP instruction (CONFIG_SWP_EMULATE)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ARMv6 architecture deprecates use of the SWP/SWPB instructions, and recommeds
moving to the load-locked/store-conditional instructions LDREX and STREX.
ARMv7 multiprocessing extensions introduce the ability to disable these
instructions, triggering an undefined instruction exception when executed.
Trapped instructions are emulated using an LDREX/STREX or LDREXB/STREXB
sequence. If a memory access fault (an abort) occurs, a segmentation fault is
signalled to the triggering process.
/proc/cpu/swp_emulation holds some statistics/information, including the PID of
the last process to trigger the emulation to be invocated. For example::
Emulated SWP: 12
Emulated SWPB: 0
Aborted SWP{B}: 1
Last process: 314
NOTE:
when accessing uncached shared regions, LDREX/STREX rely on an external
transaction monitoring block called a global monitor to maintain update
atomicity. If your system does not implement a global monitor, this option can
cause programs that perform SWP operations to uncached memory to deadlock, as
the STREX operation will always fail.