[PATCH] add an RCU version of list splicing

[Corey Minyard <minyard@acm.org>]

This patch is in support of the IPMI driver.  I have tested this
with the IPMI driver changes coming in the next patch.

Add a list_splice_init_rcu() function to splice an RCU-protected list
into another list.  This takes the sync function as an argument, so
one would do something like:

	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&list);
	list_splice_init_rcu(&source, &dest, synchronize_rcu);

The idea being to keep the RCU API proliferation down to a dull roar.

Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Corey Minyard <minyard@acm.org>
---

 list.h |   58 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 58 insertions(+)

Index: linux-2.6.19/include/linux/list.h
===================================================================
--- linux-2.6.19.orig/include/linux/list.h	2006-11-29 15:57:37.000000000 -0600
+++ linux-2.6.19/include/linux/list.h	2006-12-30 12:47:07.000000000 -0600
@@ -360,6 +360,63 @@
 }
 
 /**
+ * list_splice_init_rcu - splice an RCU-protected list into an existing list.
+ * @list:	the RCU-protected list to splice
+ * @head:	the place in the list to splice the first list into
+ * @sync:	function to sync: synchronize_rcu(), synchronize_sched(), ...
+ *
+ * @head can be RCU-read traversed concurrently with this function.
+ *
+ * Note that this function blocks.
+ *
+ * Important note: the caller must take whatever action is necessary to
+ *	prevent any other updates to @head.  In principle, it is possible
+ *	to modify the list as soon as sync() begins execution.
+ *	If this sort of thing becomes necessary, an alternative version
+ *	based on call_rcu() could be created.  But only if -really-
+ *	needed -- there is no shortage of RCU API members.
+ */
+static inline void list_splice_init_rcu(struct list_head *list,
+					struct list_head *head,
+					void (*sync)(void))
+{
+	struct list_head *first = list->next;
+	struct list_head *last = list->prev;
+	struct list_head *at = head->next;
+
+	might_sleep();
+	if (list_empty(head))
+		return;
+
+	/* "first" and "last" tracking list, so initialize it. */
+
+	INIT_LIST_HEAD(list);
+
+	/*
+	 * At this point, the list body still points to the source list.
+	 * Wait for any readers to finish using the list before splicing
+	 * the list body into the new list.  Any new readers will see
+	 * an empty list.
+	 */
+
+	sync();
+
+	/*
+	 * Readers are finished with the source list, so perform splice.
+	 * The order is important if the new list is global and accessible
+	 * to concurrent RCU readers.  Note that RCU readers are not
+	 * permitted to traverse the prev pointers without excluding
+	 * this function.
+	 */
+
+	last->next = at;
+	smp_wmb();
+	head->next = first;
+	first->prev = head;
+	at->prev = last;
+}
+
+/**
  * list_entry - get the struct for this entry
  * @ptr:	the &struct list_head pointer.
  * @type:	the type of the struct this is embedded in.