From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1762852AbYEUIFi (ORCPT ); Wed, 21 May 2008 04:05:38 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1758464AbYEUIFI (ORCPT ); Wed, 21 May 2008 04:05:08 -0400 Received: from bombadil.infradead.org ([18.85.46.34]:43600 "EHLO bombadil.infradead.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1758562AbYEUIFE (ORCPT ); Wed, 21 May 2008 04:05:04 -0400 Date: Wed, 21 May 2008 04:04:53 -0400 From: Christoph Hellwig To: Andrew Morton Cc: Rusty Russell , Linus Torvalds , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Stephen Rothwell , Christoph Hellwig , Matthew Wilcox Subject: Re: [PATCH] Introduce down_nowait() Message-ID: <20080521080452.GA1305@infradead.org> References: <200805211600.16415.rusty@rustcorp.com.au> <20080520232903.6756b1c1.akpm@linux-foundation.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20080520232903.6756b1c1.akpm@linux-foundation.org> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.17 (2007-11-01) X-SRS-Rewrite: SMTP reverse-path rewritten from by bombadil.infradead.org See http://www.infradead.org/rpr.html Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Tue, May 20, 2008 at 11:29:03PM -0700, Andrew Morton wrote: > Actually, I don't thing down_nowait() is a terribly good name, because it > doesn't tell the reader anything about what to expect from the return > value. Does a non-zero return mean that down_wait() acquired the lock, > or does it not? Something like down_try() would be better, because if > it returns 1 we can say "ah, the trying succeeded". Actually, it does, and the kerneldoc comment explains it in every detail for those who need to read it up. Then again semaphores and on their way out, and I really hate the kind of churn this thing introduces at this moment. Please let all the semaphore to completion/mutex/other construct change settle for a while, and with a little chance this gem will just go away entirely.