Re: [PATCH 17/21] workqueue: simple reimplementation of SINGLE_THREAD workqueue

Linus Torvalds
2009-11-17T15:08:50Z

On Tue, 17 Nov 2009, Tejun Heo wrote:
>
> Do you think that usage is wide-spread? Implementing strict ordering
> shouldn't be too difficult but I can't help but feeling that such
> assumption is abuse of implementation detail.

I think it would be good if it were more than an implementation detail,
and was something documented and known.

The less random and timing-dependent our interfaces are, the better off we
are. Guaranteeing that a single-threaded workqueue is done in order seems
to me to be a GoodThing(tm), regardless of whether much code depends on
it.

Of course, if there is some fundamental reason why it wouldn't be the
case, that's another thing. But if you think uit should be easy, and since
there _are_ users, then it shouldn't be seen as an "implementation
detail". It's a feature.

Linus