From: "Paul E. McKenney" <[email protected]>

In kernels built with CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT=n, spinlock critical sections
are RCU readers because they disable preemption.  However, they are also
RCU readers in CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT=y because in that case the locking
primitives contain rcu_read_lock() and rcu_read_unlock().  Therefore,
upgrade whatisRCU.rst to document this non-obvious case.

Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <[email protected]>
---
 Documentation/RCU/whatisRCU.rst | 15 +++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/whatisRCU.rst b/Documentation/RCU/whatisRCU.rst
index 60ce02475142..246ce0d0b4d1 100644
--- a/Documentation/RCU/whatisRCU.rst
+++ b/Documentation/RCU/whatisRCU.rst
@@ -172,14 +172,25 @@ rcu_read_lock()
        critical section.  Reference counts may be used in conjunction
        with RCU to maintain longer-term references to data structures.
 
+       Note that anything that disables bottom halves, preemption,
+       or interrupts also enters an RCU read-side critical section.
+       Acquiring a spinlock also enters an RCU read-side critical
+       sections, even for spinlocks that do not disable preemption,
+       as is the case in kernels built with CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT=y.
+       Sleeplocks do *not* enter RCU read-side critical sections.
+
 rcu_read_unlock()
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        void rcu_read_unlock(void);
 
        This temporal primitives is used by a reader to inform the
        reclaimer that the reader is exiting an RCU read-side critical
-       section.  Note that RCU read-side critical sections may be nested
-       and/or overlapping.
+       section.  Anything that enables bottom halves, preemption,
+       or interrupts also exits an RCU read-side critical section.
+       Releasing a spinlock also exits an RCU read-side critical section.
+
+       Note that RCU read-side critical sections may be nested and/or
+       overlapping.
 
 synchronize_rcu()
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-- 
2.43.0


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