Re: [RFC patch 08/18] cnt32_to_63 should use smp_rmb()

[David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com>]

Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> wrote:

> I'd expect it to behave in the same way as it would if the function was
> implemented out-of-line.
> 
> But it occurs to me that the modrobe-doesnt-work thing would happen if
> the function _is_ inlined anyway, so we won't be doing that.
> 
> Whatever.  Killing this many puppies because gcc may do something so
> bizarrely wrong isn't justifiable.

With gcc, you get one instance of the static variable from inside a static
(inline or outofline) function per .o file that invokes it, and these do not
merge even though they're common symbols.  I asked around and the opinion
seems to be that this is correct C.  I suppose it's the equivalent of cutting
and pasting a function between several files - why should the compiler assume
it's the same function in each?

David