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LOCALCOUNT(9)              Kernel Developer's Manual             LOCALCOUNT(9)

NAME
     localcount, localcount_init, localcount_fini, localcount_acquire,
     localcount_release, localcount_drain - reference-count primitives

SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/localcount.h>

     void
     localcount_init(struct localcount *lc);

     void
     localcount_fini(struct localcount *lc);

     void
     localcount_acquire(struct localcount *lc);

     void
     localcount_release(struct localcount *lc, struct kcondvar *cv,
         struct kmutex *mtx);

     void
     localcount_drain(struct localcount *lc, struct kcondvar *cv,
         struct kmutex *mtx);

DESCRIPTION
     Localcounts are used in the kernel to implement a medium-weight reference
     counting mechanism.  During normal operations, localcounts do not need
     the interprocessor synchronization associated with atomic_ops(3) atomic
     memory operations, and (unlike psref(9)) localcount references can be
     held across sleeps and can migrate between CPUs.  Draining a localcount
     requires more expensive interprocessor synchronization than atomic_ops(3)
     (similar to psref(9)).  And localcount references require eight bytes of
     memory per object per-CPU, significantly more than atomic_ops(3) and
     almost always more than psref(9).

     As a rough heuristic, localcount should be used for classes of objects of
     which there are perhaps a few dozen instances (such as autoconf(9)
     devices) but not thousands of instances (such as network flows) and on
     which there may be a mixture of long-term I/O waits, such as xyzread for
     a device xyz(4), and short-term fast operations, such as
     xyzioctl(IOC_READ_A_CPU_REG).

FUNCTIONS
     localcount_init(lc)
           Dynamically initialize localcount lc for use.

           No other operations can be performed on a localcount until it has
           been initialized.

     localcount_fini(lc)
           Release resources used by localcount lc.  The caller must have
           already called localcount_drain().  The localcount may not be used
           after localcount_fini() has been called until it has been re-
           initialized by localcount_init().

     localcount_acquire(lc)
           Acquire a reference to the localcount lc.

           The caller must ensure by some other mechanism that the localcount
           will not be destroyed before the call to localcount_acquire();
           typically this will be via a pserialize(9) read section.

     localcount_release(lc, cv, mtx)
           Release a reference to the localcount lc.  If the localcount is
           currently being drained, the mutex mtx will be used to synchronize
           updates to the global reference count (i.e., the total across all
           CPUs).  If the reference count goes to zero, localcount_release()
           will broadcast availability of the condvar cv.

     localcount_drain(lc, cv, mtx)
           Wait for all references to the localcount lc to be released.  The
           caller must hold the mutex mtx; the mutex will be released during
           inter-CPU cross-calls (see xcall(9)) and while waiting on the
           condvar cv.  The same cv and mtx must be used with
           localcount_release().

           The caller must guarantee that no new references can be acquired
           with localcount_acquire() before calling localcount_drain().  For
           example, any object that may be found in a list and acquired must
           be removed from the list before calling localcount_drain(); removal
           from the list would typically be protected by calling
           pserialize_perform(9) to wait for any pserialize(9) readers to
           complete.

           Once the localcount object lc is passed to localcount_drain(), it
           must be passed to localcount_fini() before any other re-use.

CODE REFERENCES
     The core of the localcount implementation is located in
     sys/kern/subr_localcount.c.

     The header file sys/sys/localcount.h describes the public interface, and
     interfaces that machine-dependent code must provide to support
     localcounts.

SEE ALSO
     atomic_ops(3), condvar(9), mutex(9), psref(9)

HISTORY
     The localcount primitives first appeared in NetBSD 8.0.

AUTHORS
     localcount was designed by Taylor R. Campbell, who also provided a draft
     implementation.  The implementation was completed, tested, and integrated
     by Paul Goyette.

CAVEATS
     The localcount facility does not provide any way to examine the reference
     count without actually waiting for the count to reach zero.

     Waiting for a localcount reference count to drain (reach zero) is a one-
     shot operation.  Once the localcount has been drained, no further
     operations are allowed until the localcount has been re-initialized.

NetBSD 10.99                   February 25, 2019                  NetBSD 10.99