xref: /freebsd/share/man/man3/ATOMIC_VAR_INIT.3 (revision 02e9120893770924227138ba49df1edb3896112a)
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25.Dd December 27, 2011
26.Dt ATOMIC_VAR_INIT 3
27.Os
28.Sh NAME
29.Nm ATOMIC_VAR_INIT ,
30.Nm atomic_init ,
31.Nm atomic_load ,
32.Nm atomic_store ,
33.Nm atomic_exchange ,
34.Nm atomic_compare_exchange_strong ,
35.Nm atomic_compare_exchange_weak ,
36.Nm atomic_fetch_add ,
37.Nm atomic_fetch_and ,
38.Nm atomic_fetch_or ,
39.Nm atomic_fetch_sub ,
40.Nm atomic_fetch_xor ,
41.Nm atomic_is_lock_free
42.Nd type-generic atomic operations
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.In stdatomic.h
45.Pp
46_Atomic(T)
47.Fa v
48= ATOMIC_VAR_INIT(c);
49.Ft void
50.Fn atomic_init "_Atomic(T) *object" "T value"
51.Ft T
52.Fn atomic_load "_Atomic(T) *object"
53.Ft T
54.Fn atomic_load_explicit "_Atomic(T) *object" "memory_order order"
55.Ft void
56.Fn atomic_store "_Atomic(T) *object" "T desired"
57.Ft void
58.Fn atomic_store_explicit "_Atomic(T) *object" "T desired" "memory_order order"
59.Ft T
60.Fn atomic_exchange "_Atomic(T) *object" "T desired"
61.Ft T
62.Fn atomic_exchange_explicit "_Atomic(T) *object" "T desired" "memory_order order"
63.Ft _Bool
64.Fn atomic_compare_exchange_strong "_Atomic(T) *object" "T *expected" "T desired"
65.Ft _Bool
66.Fn atomic_compare_exchange_strong_explicit "_Atomic(T) *object" "T *expected" "T desired" "memory_order success" "memory_order failure"
67.Ft _Bool
68.Fn atomic_compare_exchange_weak "_Atomic(T) *object" "T *expected" "T desired"
69.Ft _Bool
70.Fn atomic_compare_exchange_weak_explicit "_Atomic(T) *object" "T *expected" "T desired" "memory_order success" "memory_order failure"
71.Ft T
72.Fn atomic_fetch_add "_Atomic(T) *object" "T operand"
73.Ft T
74.Fn atomic_fetch_add_explicit "_Atomic(T) *object" "T operand" "memory_order order"
75.Ft T
76.Fn atomic_fetch_and "_Atomic(T) *object" "T operand"
77.Ft T
78.Fn atomic_fetch_and_explicit "_Atomic(T) *object" "T operand" "memory_order order"
79.Ft T
80.Fn atomic_fetch_or "_Atomic(T) *object" "T operand"
81.Ft T
82.Fn atomic_fetch_or_explicit "_Atomic(T) *object" "T operand" "memory_order order"
83.Ft T
84.Fn atomic_fetch_sub "_Atomic(T) *object" "T operand"
85.Ft T
86.Fn atomic_fetch_sub_explicit "_Atomic(T) *object" "T operand" "memory_order order"
87.Ft T
88.Fn atomic_fetch_xor "_Atomic(T) *object" "T operand"
89.Ft T
90.Fn atomic_fetch_xor_explicit "_Atomic(T) *object" "T operand" "memory_order order"
91.Ft _Bool
92.Fn atomic_is_lock_free "const _Atomic(T) *object"
93.Sh DESCRIPTION
94The header
95.In stdatomic.h
96provides type-generic macros for atomic operations.
97Atomic operations can be used by multithreaded programs to provide
98shared variables between threads that in most cases may be modified
99without acquiring locks.
100.Pp
101Atomic variables are declared using the
102.Fn _Atomic
103type specifier.
104These variables are not type-compatible with their non-atomic
105counterparts.
106Depending on the compiler used, atomic variables may be opaque and can
107therefore only be influenced using the macros described.
108.Pp
109The
110.Fn atomic_init
111macro initializes the atomic variable
112.Fa object
113with a
114.Fa value .
115Atomic variables can be initialized while being declared using
116.Fn ATOMIC_VAR_INIT .
117.Pp
118The
119.Fn atomic_load
120macro returns the value of atomic variable
121.Fa object .
122The
123.Fn atomic_store
124macro sets the atomic variable
125.Fa object
126to its
127.Fa desired
128value.
129.Pp
130The
131.Fn atomic_exchange
132macro combines the behaviour of
133.Fn atomic_load
134and
135.Fn atomic_store .
136It sets the atomic variable
137.Fa object
138to its desired
139.Fa value
140and returns the original contents of the atomic variable.
141.Pp
142The
143.Fn atomic_compare_exchange_strong
144macro stores a
145.Fa desired
146value into atomic variable
147.Fa object ,
148only if the atomic variable is equal to its
149.Fa expected
150value.
151Upon success, the macro returns
152.Dv true .
153Upon failure, the
154.Fa desired
155value is overwritten with the value of the atomic variable and
156.Dv false
157is returned.
158The
159.Fn atomic_compare_exchange_weak
160macro is identical to
161.Fn atomic_compare_exchange_strong ,
162but is allowed to fail even if atomic variable
163.Fa object
164is equal to its
165.Fa expected
166value.
167.Pp
168The
169.Fn atomic_fetch_add
170macro adds the value
171.Fa operand
172to atomic variable
173.Fa object
174and returns the original contents of the atomic variable.
175.Pp
176The
177.Fn atomic_fetch_and
178macro applies the
179.Em and
180operator to atomic variable
181.Fa object
182and
183.Fa operand
184and stores the value into
185.Fa object ,
186while returning the original contents of the atomic variable.
187.Pp
188The
189.Fn atomic_fetch_or
190macro applies the
191.Em or
192operator to atomic variable
193.Fa object
194and
195.Fa operand
196and stores the value into
197.Fa object ,
198while returning the original contents of the atomic variable.
199.Pp
200The
201.Fn atomic_fetch_sub
202macro subtracts the value
203.Fa operand
204from atomic variable
205.Fa object
206and returns the original contents of the atomic variable.
207.Pp
208The
209.Fn atomic_fetch_xor
210macro applies the
211.Em xor
212operator to atomic variable
213.Fa object
214and
215.Fa operand
216and stores the value into
217.Fa object ,
218while returning the original contents of the atomic variable.
219.Pp
220The
221.Fn atomic_is_lock_free
222macro returns whether atomic variable
223.Fa object
224uses locks when using atomic operations.
225.Sh BARRIERS
226The atomic operations described previously are implemented in such a way
227that they disallow both the compiler and the executing processor to
228re-order any nearby memory operations across the atomic operation.
229In certain cases this behaviour may cause suboptimal performance.
230To mitigate this, every atomic operation has an
231.Fn _explicit
232version that allows the re-ordering to be configured.
233.Pp
234The
235.Fa order
236parameter of these
237.Fn _explicit
238macros can have one of the following values.
239.Bl -tag -width memory_order_relaxed
240.It Dv memory_order_relaxed
241No operation orders memory.
242.It Dv memory_order_consume
243Perform consume operation.
244.It Dv memory_order_acquire
245Acquire fence.
246.It Dv memory_order_release
247Release fence.
248.It Dv memory_order_acq_rel
249Acquire and release fence.
250.It Dv memory_order_seq_cst
251Sequentially consistent acquire and release fence.
252.El
253.Pp
254The previously described macros are identical to the
255.Fn _explicit
256macros, when
257.Fa order
258is
259.Dv memory_order_seq_cst .
260.Sh COMPILER SUPPORT
261These atomic operations are typically implemented by the compiler, as
262they must be implemented type-generically and must often use special
263hardware instructions.
264As this interface has not been adopted by most compilers yet, the
265.In stdatomic.h
266header implements these macros on top of existing compiler intrinsics to
267provide forward compatibility.
268.Pp
269This means that certain aspects of the interface, such as support for
270different barrier types may simply be ignored.
271When using GCC, all atomic operations are executed as if they are using
272.Dv memory_order_seq_cst .
273.Pp
274Instead of using the atomic operations provided by this interface,
275.St -isoC-2011
276allows the atomic variables to be modified directly using built-in
277language operators.
278This behaviour cannot be emulated for older compilers.
279To prevent unintended non-atomic access to these variables, this header
280file places the atomic variable in a structure when using an older
281compiler.
282.Pp
283When using GCC on architectures on which it lacks support for built-in
284atomic intrinsics, these macros may emit function calls to fallback
285routines.
286These fallback routines are only implemented for 32-bits and 64-bits
287datatypes, if supported by the CPU.
288.Sh SEE ALSO
289.Xr pthread 3 ,
290.Xr atomic 9
291.Sh STANDARDS
292These macros attempt to conform to
293.St -isoC-2011 .
294.Sh HISTORY
295These macros appeared in
296.Fx 10.0 .
297.Sh AUTHORS
298.An \&Ed Schouten Aq Mt ed@FreeBSD.org
299.An David Chisnall Aq Mt theraven@FreeBSD.org
300