posix clocks: Replace mutex with reader/writer semaphore

A dynamic posix clock is protected from asynchronous removal by a mutex.
However, using a mutex has the unwanted effect that a long running clock
operation in one process will unnecessarily block other processes.

For example, one process might call read() to get an external time stamp
coming in at one pulse per second. A second process calling clock_gettime
would have to wait for almost a whole second.

This patch fixes the issue by using a reader/writer semaphore instead of
a mutex.

Signed-off-by: Richard Cochran <richard.cochran@omicron.at>
Cc: John Stultz <john.stultz@linaro.org>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/%3C20110330132421.GA31771%40riccoc20.at.omicron.at%3E
Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>

1 files changed, 3 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/include/linux/posix-clock.h b/include/linux/posix-clock.h
index 369e19d3750b..7f1183dcd119 100644
--- a/include/linux/posix-clock.h
+++ b/include/linux/posix-clock.h
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include <linux/fs.h>
 #include <linux/poll.h>
 #include <linux/posix-timers.h>
+#include <linux/rwsem.h>
 
 struct posix_clock;
 
@@ -104,7 +105,7 @@ struct posix_clock_operations {
  * @ops:     Functional interface to the clock
  * @cdev:    Character device instance for this clock
  * @kref:    Reference count.
- * @mutex:   Protects the 'zombie' field from concurrent access.
+ * @rwsem:   Protects the 'zombie' field from concurrent access.
  * @zombie:  If 'zombie' is true, then the hardware has disappeared.
  * @release: A function to free the structure when the reference count reaches
  *           zero. May be NULL if structure is statically allocated.
@@ -117,7 +118,7 @@ struct posix_clock {
         struct posix_clock_operations ops;
         struct cdev cdev;
         struct kref kref;
-        struct mutex mutex;
+        struct rw_semaphore rwsem;
         bool zombie;
         void (*release)(struct posix_clock *clk);
 };