Re: [PATCH 0/24] make atomic_read() behave consistently across all architectures

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007, Paul Mackerras wrote:

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.

This may have been the intend. However, today the visibility is controlled 
using barriers. And we have barriers that we use with atomic operations. 
Having volatile be the default just lead to confusion. Atomic read should 
just read with no extras. Extras can be added by using variants like 
atomic_read_volatile or so.