Provided by:
freebsd-manpages_7.0-2_all 
NAME
rwlock, rw_init, rw_init_flags, rw_destroy, rw_rlock, rw_wlock,
rw_runlock, rw_wunlock, rw_try_upgrade, rw_downgrade, rw_sleep,
rw_initialized, rw_wowned, rw_assert, RW_SYSINIT - kernel reader/writer
lock
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/param.h>
#include <sys/lock.h>
#include <sys/rwlock.h>
void
rw_init(struct rwlock *rw, const char *name);
void
rw_init_flags(struct rwlock *rw, const char *name, int opts);
void
rw_destroy(struct rwlock *rw);
void
rw_rlock(struct rwlock *rw);
void
rw_wlock(struct rwlock *rw);
void
rw_runlock(struct rwlock *rw);
void
rw_wunlock(struct rwlock *rw);
int
rw_try_upgrade(struct rwlock *rw);
void
rw_downgrade(struct rwlock *rw);
int
rw_sleep(void *chan, struct rwlock *rw, int priority, const char *wmesg,
int timo);
int
rw_initialized(struct rwlock *rw);
int
rw_wowned(struct rwlock *rw);
options INVARIANTS
options INVARIANT_SUPPORT
void
rw_assert(struct rwlock *rw, int what);
#include <sys/kernel.h>
RW_SYSINIT(name, struct rwlock *rw, const char *desc);
DESCRIPTION
Reader/writer locks allow shared access to protected data by multiple
threads, or exclusive access by a single thread. The threads with shared
access are known as readers since they only read the protected data. A
thread with exclusive access is known as a writer since it can modify
protected data.
Although reader/writer locks look very similar to sx(9) locks, their
usage pattern is different. Reader/writer locks can be treated as
mutexes (see mutex(9)) with shared/exclusive semantics. Unlike sx(9), an
rwlock can be locked while holding a non-spin mutex, and an rwlock cannot
be held while sleeping. The rwlock locks have priority propagation like
mutexes, but priority can be propagated only to an exclusive holder.
This limitation comes from the fact that shared owners are anonymous.
Another important property is that shared holders of rwlock can recurse,
and exclusive locks can be made recursive selectively.
Macros and Functions
rw_init(struct rwlock *rw, const char *name)
Initialize structure located at rw as reader/writer lock,
described by name name. The description is used solely for
debugging purposes. This function must be called before any
other operations on the lock.
rw_init_flags(struct rwlock *rw, const char *name, int opts)
Initialize the rw lock just like the rw_init() function, but
specifying a set of optional flags to alter the behaviour of rw,
through the opts argument. It contains one or more of the
following flags:
RW_DUPOK Witness should not log messages about duplicate
locks being acquired.
RW_NOPROFILE Do not profile this lock.
RW_NOWITNESS Instruct witness(4) to ignore this lock.
RW_QUIET Do not log any operations for this lock via ktr(4).
RW_RECURSE Allow threads to recursively acquire exclusive
locks for rw.
rw_rlock(struct rwlock *rw)
Lock rw as a reader. If any thread holds this lock
exclusively, the current thread blocks, and its
priority is propagated to the exclusive holder.
The rw_rlock() function can be called when the
thread has already acquired reader access on rw.
This is called “recursing on a lock”.
rw_wlock(struct rwlock *rw)
Lock rw as a writer. If there are any shared
owners of the lock, the current thread blocks. The
rw_wlock() function can be called recursively only
if rw has been initialized with the RW_RECURSE
option enabled.
rw_runlock(struct rwlock *rw)
This function releases a shared lock previously
acquired by rw_rlock().
rw_wunlock(struct rwlock *rw)
This function releases an exclusive lock previously
acquired by rw_wlock().
rw_try_upgrade(struct rwlock *rw)
Attempt to upgrade a single shared lock to an
exclusive lock. The current thread must hold a
shared lock of rw. This will only succeed if the
current thread holds the only shared lock on rw,
and it only holds a single shared lock. If the
attempt succeeds rw_try_upgrade() will return a
non-zero value, and the current thread will hold an
exclusive lock. If the attempt fails
rw_try_upgrade() will return zero, and the current
thread will still hold a shared lock.
rw_downgrade(struct rwlock *rw)
Convert an exclusive lock into a single shared
lock. The current thread must hold an exclusive
lock of rw.
rw_sleep(void *chan, struct rwlock *rw, int priority, const char
*wmesg, int timo)
Atomically release rw while waiting for an event.
For more details on the parameters to this
function, see sleep(9).
rw_initialized(struct rwlock *rw)
This function returns non-zero if rw has been
initialized, and zero otherwise.
rw_destroy(struct rwlock *rw)
This functions destroys a lock previously
initialized with rw_init(). The rw lock must be
unlocked.
rw_wowned(struct rwlock *rw)
This function returns a non-zero value if the
current thread owns an exclusive lock on rw.
rw_assert(struct rwlock *rw, int what)
This function allows assertions specified in what
to be made about rw. If the assertions are not
true and the kernel is compiled with options
INVARIANTS and options INVARIANT_SUPPORT, the
kernel will panic. Currently the following
assertions are supported:
RA_LOCKED Assert that current thread holds
either a shared or exclusive lock of
rw.
RA_RLOCKED Assert that current thread holds a
shared lock of rw.
RA_WLOCKED Assert that current thread holds an
exclusive lock of rw.
RA_UNLOCKED Assert that current thread holds
neither a shared nor exclusive lock of
rw.
SEE ALSO
locking(9), mutex(9), panic(9), sema(9), sx(9)
HISTORY
These functions appeared in FreeBSD 7.0.
AUTHORS
The rwlock facility was written by John Baldwin. This manual page was
written by Gleb Smirnoff.
BUGS
If WITNESS is not included in the kernel, then it is impossible to assert
that the current thread does or does not hold a read lock. In the
non-WITNESS case, the RA_LOCKED and RA_RLOCKED assertions merely check
that some thread holds a read lock.
Reader/writer is a bit of an awkward name. An rwlock can also be called
a “Robert Watson” lock if desired.