bits/atomic.h atomic*_t types
Roland McGrath
roland@redhat.com
Sun Mar 30 23:40:00 GMT 2003
AFAIK the atomic*_t types have not been used for anything yet. There are
no comments on the definitions (bad), so I am guessing what they are for.
Are they intended to be like int_fastNN_t, i.e. a type that is at least
that large and can be accessed atomically? (The existing uses of atomic.h
assume that int and word/pointer size are usable atomically rather than
using these types, which is probably safe.)
All the bits/atomic.h files have copied the verbatim definitions from the
original i386 file. All 4 sizes can be accessed with atomic instructions
on i386. But I believe that on almost all other machines, only one or two
sizes (32 and/or 64 bits) really work. So the definitions should be
changed for most machines, no?
Thanks,
Roland
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