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+.. _array_rcu_doc:
+
+Using RCU to Protect Read-Mostly Arrays
+=======================================
+
+Although RCU is more commonly used to protect linked lists, it can
+also be used to protect arrays.  Three situations are as follows:
+
+1.  :ref:`Hash Tables <hash_tables>`
+
+2.  :ref:`Static Arrays <static_arrays>`
+
+3.  :ref:`Resizable Arrays <resizable_arrays>`
+
+Each of these three situations involves an RCU-protected pointer to an
+array that is separately indexed.  It might be tempting to consider use
+of RCU to instead protect the index into an array, however, this use
+case is **not** supported.  The problem with RCU-protected indexes into
+arrays is that compilers can play way too many optimization games with
+integers, which means that the rules governing handling of these indexes
+are far more trouble than they are worth.  If RCU-protected indexes into
+arrays prove to be particularly valuable (which they have not thus far),
+explicit cooperation from the compiler will be required to permit them
+to be safely used.
+
+That aside, each of the three RCU-protected pointer situations are
+described in the following sections.
+
+.. _hash_tables:
+
+Situation 1: Hash Tables
+------------------------
+
+Hash tables are often implemented as an array, where each array entry
+has a linked-list hash chain.  Each hash chain can be protected by RCU
+as described in listRCU.rst.  This approach also applies to other
+array-of-list situations, such as radix trees.
+
+.. _static_arrays:
+
+Situation 2: Static Arrays
+--------------------------
+
+Static arrays, where the data (rather than a pointer to the data) is
+located in each array element, and where the array is never resized,
+have not been used with RCU.  Rik van Riel recommends using seqlock in
+this situation, which would also have minimal read-side overhead as long
+as updates are rare.
+
+Quick Quiz:
+		Why is it so important that updates be rare when using seqlock?
+
+:ref:`Answer to Quick Quiz <answer_quick_quiz_seqlock>`
+
+.. _resizable_arrays:
+
+Situation 3: Resizable Arrays
+------------------------------
+
+Use of RCU for resizable arrays is demonstrated by the grow_ary()
+function formerly used by the System V IPC code.  The array is used
+to map from semaphore, message-queue, and shared-memory IDs to the data
+structure that represents the corresponding IPC construct.  The grow_ary()
+function does not acquire any locks; instead its caller must hold the
+ids->sem semaphore.
+
+The grow_ary() function, shown below, does some limit checks, allocates a
+new ipc_id_ary, copies the old to the new portion of the new, initializes
+the remainder of the new, updates the ids->entries pointer to point to
+the new array, and invokes ipc_rcu_putref() to free up the old array.
+Note that rcu_assign_pointer() is used to update the ids->entries pointer,
+which includes any memory barriers required on whatever architecture
+you are running on::
+
+	static int grow_ary(struct ipc_ids* ids, int newsize)
+	{
+		struct ipc_id_ary* new;
+		struct ipc_id_ary* old;
+		int i;
+		int size = ids->entries->size;
+
+		if(newsize > IPCMNI)
+			newsize = IPCMNI;
+		if(newsize <= size)
+			return newsize;
+
+		new = ipc_rcu_alloc(sizeof(struct kern_ipc_perm *)*newsize +
+				    sizeof(struct ipc_id_ary));
+		if(new == NULL)
+			return size;
+		new->size = newsize;
+		memcpy(new->p, ids->entries->p,
+		       sizeof(struct kern_ipc_perm *)*size +
+		       sizeof(struct ipc_id_ary));
+		for(i=size;i<newsize;i++) {
+			new->p[i] = NULL;
+		}
+		old = ids->entries;
+
+		/*
+		 * Use rcu_assign_pointer() to make sure the memcpyed
+		 * contents of the new array are visible before the new
+		 * array becomes visible.
+		 */
+		rcu_assign_pointer(ids->entries, new);
+
+		ipc_rcu_putref(old);
+		return newsize;
+	}
+
+The ipc_rcu_putref() function decrements the array's reference count
+and then, if the reference count has dropped to zero, uses call_rcu()
+to free the array after a grace period has elapsed.
+
+The array is traversed by the ipc_lock() function.  This function
+indexes into the array under the protection of rcu_read_lock(),
+using rcu_dereference() to pick up the pointer to the array so
+that it may later safely be dereferenced -- memory barriers are
+required on the Alpha CPU.  Since the size of the array is stored
+with the array itself, there can be no array-size mismatches, so
+a simple check suffices.  The pointer to the structure corresponding
+to the desired IPC object is placed in "out", with NULL indicating
+a non-existent entry.  After acquiring "out->lock", the "out->deleted"
+flag indicates whether the IPC object is in the process of being
+deleted, and, if not, the pointer is returned::
+
+	struct kern_ipc_perm* ipc_lock(struct ipc_ids* ids, int id)
+	{
+		struct kern_ipc_perm* out;
+		int lid = id % SEQ_MULTIPLIER;
+		struct ipc_id_ary* entries;
+
+		rcu_read_lock();
+		entries = rcu_dereference(ids->entries);
+		if(lid >= entries->size) {
+			rcu_read_unlock();
+			return NULL;
+		}
+		out = entries->p[lid];
+		if(out == NULL) {
+			rcu_read_unlock();
+			return NULL;
+		}
+		spin_lock(&out->lock);
+
+		/* ipc_rmid() may have already freed the ID while ipc_lock
+		 * was spinning: here verify that the structure is still valid
+		 */
+		if (out->deleted) {
+			spin_unlock(&out->lock);
+			rcu_read_unlock();
+			return NULL;
+		}
+		return out;
+	}
+
+.. _answer_quick_quiz_seqlock:
+
+Answer to Quick Quiz:
+	Why is it so important that updates be rare when using seqlock?
+
+	The reason that it is important that updates be rare when
+	using seqlock is that frequent updates can livelock readers.
+	One way to avoid this problem is to assign a seqlock for
+	each array entry rather than to the entire array.