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+Memory Barriers
+===============
+
+Modern CPUs make extensive use of pipe-lining and out-of-order execution,
+meaning that the CPU is often executing more than one instruction at a
+time, and not necessarily in the order that the source code would suggest.
+Furthermore, even before the CPU gets a chance to reorder operations, the
+compiler may (and often does) reorganize the code for greater efficiency,
+particularly at higher optimization levels.  Optimizing compilers and
+out-of-order execution are both critical for good performance, but they
+can lead to surprising results when multiple processes access the same
+memory space.
+
+Example
+=======
+
+Suppose x is a pointer to a structure stored in shared memory, and that the
+entire structure has been initialized to zero bytes.  One backend executes
+the following code fragment:
+
+    x->foo = 1;
+    x->bar = 1;
+
+Meanwhile, at approximately the same time, another backend executes this
+code fragment:
+
+    bar = x->bar;
+    foo = x->foo;
+
+The second backend might end up with foo = 1 and bar = 1 (if it executes
+both statements after the first backend), or with foo = 0 and bar = 0 (if
+it executes both statements before the first backend), or with foo = 1 and
+bar = 0 (if the first backend executes the first statement, the second
+backend executes both statements, and then the first backend executes the
+second statement).
+
+Surprisingly, however, the second backend could also end up with foo = 0
+and bar = 1.  The compiler might swap the order of the two stores performed
+by the first backend, or the two loads performed by the second backend.
+Even if it doesn't, on a machine with weak memory ordering (such as PowerPC
+or ARM) the CPU might choose to execute either the loads or the stores
+out of order.  This surprising result can lead to bugs.
+
+A common pattern where this actually does result in a bug is when adding items
+onto a queue.  The writer does this:
+
+    q->items[q->num_items] = new_item;
+    ++q->num_items;
+
+The reader does this:
+
+    num_items = q->num_items;
+    for (i = 0; i < num_items; ++i)
+        /* do something with q->items[i] */
+
+This code turns out to be unsafe, because the writer might increment
+q->num_items before it finishes storing the new item into the appropriate slot.
+More subtly, the reader might prefetch the contents of the q->items array
+before reading q->num_items.  Thus, there's still a bug here *even if the
+writer does everything in the order we expect*.  We need the writer to update
+the array before bumping the item counter, and the reader to examine the item
+counter before examining the array.
+
+Note that these types of highly counterintuitive bugs can *only* occur when
+multiple processes are interacting with the same memory segment.  A given
+process always perceives its *own* writes to memory in program order.
+
+Avoiding Memory Ordering Bugs
+=============================
+
+The simplest (and often best) way to avoid memory ordering bugs is to
+protect the data structures involved with an lwlock.  For more details, see
+src/backend/storage/lmgr/README.  For instance, in the above example, the
+writer could acquire an lwlock in exclusive mode before appending to the
+queue, and each reader could acquire the same lock in shared mode before
+reading it.  If the data structure is not heavily trafficked, this solution is
+generally entirely adequate.
+
+However, in some cases, it is desirable to avoid the overhead of acquiring
+and releasing locks.  In this case, memory barriers may be used to ensure
+that the apparent order of execution is as the programmer desires.   In
+PostgreSQL backend code, the pg_memory_barrier() macro may be used to achieve
+this result.  In the example above, we can prevent the reader from seeing a
+garbage value by having the writer do this:
+
+    q->items[q->num_items] = new_item;
+    pg_memory_barrier();
+    ++q->num_items;
+
+And by having the reader do this:
+
+    num_items = q->num_items;
+    pg_memory_barrier();
+    for (i = 0; i < num_items; ++i)
+        /* do something with q->items[i] */
+
+The pg_memory_barrier() macro will (1) prevent the compiler from rearranging
+the code in such a way as to allow the memory accesses to occur out of order
+and (2) generate any code (often, inline assembly) that is needed to prevent
+the CPU from executing the memory accesses out of order.  Specifically, the
+barrier prevents loads and stores written after the barrier from being
+performed before the barrier, and vice-versa.
+
+Although this code will work, it is needlessly inefficient.  On systems with
+strong memory ordering (such as x86), the CPU never reorders loads with other
+loads, nor stores with other stores.  It can, however, allow a load to be
+performed before a subsequent store.  To avoid emitting unnecessary memory
+instructions, we provide two additional primitives: pg_read_barrier(), and
+pg_write_barrier().  When a memory barrier is being used to separate two
+loads, use pg_read_barrier(); when it is separating two stores, use
+pg_write_barrier(); when it is a separating a load and a store (in either
+order), use pg_memory_barrier().  pg_memory_barrier() can always substitute
+for either a read or a write barrier, but is typically more expensive, and
+therefore should be used only when needed.
+
+With these guidelines in mind, the writer can do this:
+
+    q->items[q->num_items] = new_item;
+    pg_write_barrier();
+    ++q->num_items;
+
+And the reader can do this:
+
+    num_items = q->num_items;
+    pg_read_barrier();
+    for (i = 0; i < num_items; ++i)
+        /* do something with q->items[i] */
+
+On machines with strong memory ordering, these weaker barriers will simply
+prevent compiler rearrangement, without emitting any actual machine code.
+On machines with weak memory ordering, they will prevent compiler
+reordering and also emit whatever hardware barrier may be required.  Even
+on machines with weak memory ordering, a read or write barrier may be able
+to use a less expensive instruction than a full barrier.
+
+Weaknesses of Memory Barriers
+=============================
+
+While memory barriers are a powerful tool, and much cheaper than locks, they
+are also much less capable than locks.  Here are some of the problems.
+
+1. Concurrent writers are unsafe.  In the above example of a queue, using
+memory barriers doesn't make it safe for two processes to add items to the
+same queue at the same time.  If more than one process can write to the queue,
+a spinlock or lwlock must be used to synchronize access. The readers can
+perhaps proceed without any lock, but the writers may not.
+
+Even very simple write operations often require additional synchronization.
+For example, it's not safe for multiple writers to simultaneously execute
+this code (supposing x is a pointer into shared memory):
+
+    x->foo++;
+
+Although this may compile down to a single machine-language instruction,
+the CPU will execute that instruction by reading the current value of foo,
+adding one to it, and then storing the result back to the original address.
+If two CPUs try to do this simultaneously, both may do their reads before
+either one does their writes.  Such a case could be made safe by using an
+atomic variable and an atomic add.  See port/atomics.h.
+
+2. Eight-byte loads and stores aren't necessarily atomic.  We assume in
+various places in the source code that an aligned four-byte load or store is
+atomic, and that other processes therefore won't see a half-set value.
+Sadly, the same can't be said for eight-byte value: on some platforms, an
+aligned eight-byte load or store will generate two four-byte operations.  If
+you need an atomic eight-byte read or write, you must either serialize access
+with a lock or use an atomic variable.
+
+3. No ordering guarantees.  While memory barriers ensure that any given
+process performs loads and stores to shared memory in order, they don't
+guarantee synchronization.  In the queue example above, we can use memory
+barriers to be sure that readers won't see garbage, but there's nothing to
+say whether a given reader will run before or after a given writer.  If this
+matters in a given situation, some other mechanism must be used instead of
+or in addition to memory barriers.
+
+4. Barrier proliferation.  Many algorithms that at first seem appealing
+require multiple barriers.  If the number of barriers required is more than
+one or two, you may be better off just using a lock.  Keep in mind that, on
+some platforms, a barrier may be implemented by acquiring and releasing a
+backend-private spinlock.  This may be better than a centralized lock under
+contention, but it may also be slower in the uncontended case.
+
+Further Reading
+===============
+
+Much of the documentation about memory barriers appears to be quite
+Linux-specific.  The following papers may be helpful:
+
+Memory Ordering in Modern Microprocessors, by Paul E. McKenney
+* http://www.rdrop.com/users/paulmck/scalability/paper/ordering.2007.09.19a.pdf
+
+Memory Barriers: a Hardware View for Software Hackers, by Paul E. McKenney
+* http://www.rdrop.com/users/paulmck/scalability/paper/whymb.2010.06.07c.pdf
+
+The Linux kernel also has some useful documentation on this topic.  Start
+with Documentation/memory-barriers.txt