Re: your mail

Liam R. Howlett
2023-05-23T13:47:26Z

* Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> [230516 18:48]:
> On Mon, May 15 2023 at 15:27, Liam R. Howlett wrote:
> > * Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> [230510 15:01]:
> >> The documentation of mt_next() claims that it starts the search at the
> >> provided index. That's incorrect as it starts the search after the provided
> >> index.
> >>
> >> The documentation of mt_find() is slightly confusing. "Handles locking" is
> >> not really helpful as it does not explain how the "locking" works.
> >
> > More locking notes can be found in Documentation/core-api/maple_tree.rst
> > which lists mt_find() under the "Takes RCU read lock" list. I'm okay
> > with duplicating the comment of taking the RCU read lock in here.
>
> Without a reference to the actual locking documentation such comments
> are not super helpful.

Noted. A reference to the larger document should probably be added.
Thanks.

>
> >> Fix similar issues for mt_find_after() and mt_prev().
> >>
> >> Remove the completely confusing and pointless "Note: Will not return the
> >> zero entry." comment from mt_for_each() and document @__index correctly.
> >
> > The zero entry concept is an advanced API concept which allows you to
> > store something that cannot be seen by the mt_* family of users, so it
> > will not be returned and, instead, it will return NULL. Think of it as
> > a reservation for an entry that isn't fully initialized. Perhaps it
> > should read "Will not return the XA_ZERO_ENTRY" ?
> >>
> >> - *
> >> - * Note: Will not return the zero entry.
> >
> > This function "will not return the zero entry", meaning it will return
> > NULL if xa_is_zero(entry).
>
> If I understand correctly, this translates to:
>
> This iterator skips entries, which have been reserved for future use
> but have not yet been fully initialized.
>
> Right?

Well, that's one use of using the XA_ZERO_ENTRY, but it's really up to
the user to decide why they are adding something that returns NULL in a
specific range for the not-advanced API. It might be worth adding the
XA_ZERO_ENTRY in here, since that's the only special value right now?

>
> >> @@ -6487,9 +6493,14 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(mtree_destroy);
> >> * mt_find() - Search from the start up until an entry is found.
> >> * @mt: The maple tree
> >> * @index: Pointer which contains the start location of the search
> >> - * @max: The maximum value to check
> >> + * @max: The maximum value of the search range
> >> + *
> >> + * Takes RCU read lock internally to protect the search, which does not
> >> + * protect the returned pointer after dropping RCU read lock.
> >> *
> >> - * Handles locking. @index will be incremented to one beyond the range.
> >> + * In case that an entry is found @index contains the index of the found
> >> + * entry plus one, so it can be used as iterator index to find the next
> >> + * entry.
> >
> > What about:
> > "In case that an entry is found @index contains the last index of the
> > found entry plus one"
>
> Still confusing to the casual reader like me :)
>
> "In case that an entry is found @index is updated to point to the next
> possible entry independent whether the found entry is occupying a
> single index or a range if indices."
>
> Hmm?

That makes sense to me.

Thanks,
Liam