Satyam Sharma writes:

quoted

Doesn't "atomic WRT all processors" require volatility?

No, it definitely doesn't. Why should it?

"Atomic w.r.t. all processors" is just your normal, simple "atomicity"
for SMP systems (ensure that that object is modified / set / replaced
in main memory atomically) and has nothing to do with "volatile"
behaviour.

Atomic variables are "volatile" in the sense that they are liable to
be changed at any time by mechanisms that are outside the knowledge of
the C compiler, namely, other CPUs, or this CPU executing an interrupt
routine.

In the kernel we use atomic variables in precisely those situations
where a variable is potentially accessed concurrently by multiple
CPUs, and where each CPU needs to see updates done by other CPUs in a
timely fashion.  That is what they are for.  Therefore the compiler
must not cache values of atomic variables in registers; each
atomic_read must result in a load and each atomic_set must result in a
store.  Anything else will just lead to subtle bugs.

I have no strong opinion about whether or not the best way to achieve
this is through the use of the "volatile" C keyword.  Segher's idea of
using asm instead seems like a good one to me.

Paul.