Documentation/sparse.txt: document context annotations for lock checking

The context feature of sparse is used with the Linux kernel sources to
check for imbalanced uses of locks.  Document the annotations defined in
include/linux/compiler.h that tell sparse what to expect when a lock is
held on function entry, exit, or both.

Signed-off-by: Ed Cashin <ecashin@coraid.com>
Reviewed-by: Josh Triplett <josh@joshtriplett.org>
Acked-by: Christopher Li <sparse@chrisli.org>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

1 files changed, 18 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/sparse.txt b/Documentation/sparse.txt
index 4909d4116356..eceab1308a8c 100644
--- a/Documentation/sparse.txt
+++ b/Documentation/sparse.txt
@@ -49,6 +49,24 @@ be generated without __CHECK_ENDIAN__.
 __bitwise - noisy stuff; in particular, __le*/__be* are that.  We really
 don't want to drown in noise unless we'd explicitly asked for it.
 
+Using sparse for lock checking
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The following macros are undefined for gcc and defined during a sparse
+run to use the "context" tracking feature of sparse, applied to
+locking.  These annotations tell sparse when a lock is held, with
+regard to the annotated function's entry and exit.
+
+__must_hold - The specified lock is held on function entry and exit.
+
+__acquires - The specified lock is held on function exit, but not entry.
+
+__releases - The specified lock is held on function entry, but not exit.
+
+If the function enters and exits without the lock held, acquiring and
+releasing the lock inside the function in a balanced way, no
+annotation is needed.  The tree annotations above are for cases where
+sparse would otherwise report a context imbalance.
 
 Getting sparse
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~