Merge tag 'rcu.2022.09.30a' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/paulmck/linux-rcu

Pull RCU updates from Paul McKenney:

 - Documentation updates.

   This is the first in a series from an ongoing review of the RCU
   documentation. "Why are people thinking -that- about RCU? Oh. Because
   that is an entirely reasonable interpretation of its documentation."

 - Miscellaneous fixes.

 - Improved memory allocation and heuristics.

 - Improve rcu_nocbs diagnostic output.

 - Add full-sized polled RCU grace period state values.

   These are the same size as an rcu_head structure, which is double
   that of the traditional unsigned long state values that may still be
   obtained from et_state_synchronize_rcu(). The added size avoids
   missing overlapping grace periods. This benefit is that call_rcu()
   can be replaced by polling, which can be attractive in situations
   where RCU-protected data is aged out of memory.

   Early in the series, the size of this state value is three unsigned
   longs. Later in the series, the fastpaths in synchronize_rcu() and
   synchronize_rcu_expedited() are reworked to permit the full state to
   be represented by only two unsigned longs. This reworking slows these
   two functions down in SMP kernels running either on single-CPU
   systems or on systems with all but one CPU offlined, but this should
   not be a significant problem. And if it somehow becomes a problem in
   some yet-as-unforeseen situations, three-value state values can be
   provided for only those situations.

   Finally, a pair of functions named same_state_synchronize_rcu() and
   same_state_synchronize_rcu_full() allow grace-period state values to
   be compared for equality. This permits users to maintain lists of
   data structures having the same state value, removing the need for
   per-data-structure grace-period state values, thus decreasing memory
   footprint.

 - Polled SRCU grace-period updates, including adding tests to
   rcutorture and reducing the incidence of Tiny SRCU grace-period-state
   counter wrap.

 - Improve Tasks RCU diagnostics and quiescent-state detection.

* tag 'rcu.2022.09.30a' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/paulmck/linux-rcu: (55 commits)
  rcutorture: Use the barrier operation specified by cur_ops
  rcu-tasks: Make RCU Tasks Trace check for userspace execution
  rcu-tasks: Ensure RCU Tasks Trace loops have quiescent states
  rcu-tasks: Convert RCU_LOCKDEP_WARN() to WARN_ONCE()
  srcu: Make Tiny SRCU use full-sized grace-period counters
  srcu: Make Tiny SRCU poll_state_synchronize_srcu() more precise
  srcu: Add GP and maximum requested GP to Tiny SRCU rcutorture output
  rcutorture: Make "srcud" option also test polled grace-period API
  rcutorture: Limit read-side polling-API testing
  rcu: Add functions to compare grace-period state values
  rcutorture: Expand rcu_torture_write_types() first "if" statement
  rcutorture: Use 1-suffixed variable in rcu_torture_write_types() check
  rcu: Make synchronize_rcu() fastpath update only boot-CPU counters
  rcutorture: Adjust rcu_poll_need_2gp() for rcu_gp_oldstate field removal
  rcu: Remove ->rgos_polled field from rcu_gp_oldstate structure
  rcu: Make synchronize_rcu_expedited() fast path update .expedited_sequence
  rcu: Remove expedited grace-period fast-path forward-progress helper
  rcu: Make synchronize_rcu() fast path update ->gp_seq counters
  rcu-tasks: Remove grace-period fast-path rcu-tasks helper
  rcu: Set rcu_data structures' initial ->gpwrap value to true
  ...

1 files changed, 10 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.rst b/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.rst
index 0b418a5b243c..81e828c8313b 100644
--- a/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.rst
+++ b/Documentation/RCU/rcu_dereference.rst
@@ -128,10 +128,16 @@ Follow these rules to keep your RCU code working properly:
 		This sort of comparison occurs frequently when scanning
 		RCU-protected circular linked lists.
 
-		Note that if checks for being within an RCU read-side
-		critical section are not required and the pointer is never
-		dereferenced, rcu_access_pointer() should be used in place
-		of rcu_dereference().
+		Note that if the pointer comparison is done outside
+		of an RCU read-side critical section, and the pointer
+		is never dereferenced, rcu_access_pointer() should be
+		used in place of rcu_dereference().  In most cases,
+		it is best to avoid accidental dereferences by testing
+		the rcu_access_pointer() return value directly, without
+		assigning it to a variable.
+
+		Within an RCU read-side critical section, there is little
+		reason to use rcu_access_pointer().
 
 	-	The comparison is against a pointer that references memory
 		that was initialized "a long time ago."  The reason