[PATCH v3] xarray: Document erasing entries during iteration

From: Tobin C. Harding
Date: Wed Feb 13 2019 - 23:02:20 EST


The XArray is, in a way, a replacement data structure for linked lists,
as such, on first use developers may wonder if it is safe to remove
items while iterating over the array. Calling xa_erase() while
looping with xa_for_each() is fine, let's document it.

Document explicitly in the docs and also for the macro definition.

Signed-off-by: Tobin C. Harding <tobin@xxxxxxxxxx>
---

v2 -> v3:
- Put document comment in a better place, tie together current
discussion of xa_for_each(), xa_erase(), and xa_destroy().
- Improve commit message.
- Actually build the docs and verify the patched file renders in HTML.

v1 -> v2:
- Use the correct function name

thanks,
Tobin.

Documentation/core-api/xarray.rst | 4 +++-
include/linux/xarray.h | 2 ++
2 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/core-api/xarray.rst b/Documentation/core-api/xarray.rst
index 5d54b27c6eba..77a93e3e0e4f 100644
--- a/Documentation/core-api/xarray.rst
+++ b/Documentation/core-api/xarray.rst
@@ -97,7 +97,9 @@ You can copy entries out of the XArray into a plain array by calling
:c:func:`xa_extract`. Or you can iterate over the present entries in
the XArray by calling :c:func:`xa_for_each`. You may prefer to use
:c:func:`xa_find` or :c:func:`xa_find_after` to move to the next present
-entry in the XArray.
+entry in the XArray. It is safe to call :c:func:`xa_erase` while iterating
+the array. If you are clearing the whole array you may prefer to use
+:c:func:`xa_destroy` (documented below).

Calling :c:func:`xa_store_range` stores the same entry in a range
of indices. If you do this, some of the other operations will behave
diff --git a/include/linux/xarray.h b/include/linux/xarray.h
index 5d9d318bcf7a..1f8974281a0a 100644
--- a/include/linux/xarray.h
+++ b/include/linux/xarray.h
@@ -407,6 +407,8 @@ static inline bool xa_marked(const struct xarray *xa, xa_mark_t mark)
* you should use the xas_for_each() iterator instead. The xas_for_each()
* iterator will expand into more inline code than xa_for_each().
*
+ * It is safe to erase entries from the XArray as you iterate over it.
+ *
* Context: Any context. Takes and releases the RCU lock.
*/
#define xa_for_each(xa, index, entry) \
--
2.20.1