On 2017-06-06 13:07:57 -0400, Robert Haas wrote:
> > We also already rely on int32 stores being atomic in other
> > parts of the code, although that's between processes not between signal
> > / normal path of execution.
>
> I don't think the issues are much different. Presumably no CPU
> delivers a signal halfway through a CPU instruction, so if we can rely
> on a 4 byte store being indivisible from the perspective of some other
> CPU, it seems fine to also rely on that being true in the signal
> handler case.
The signal handler case is the "weaker" one I think - you'll only ever
see the result of an entire CPU instruction, whereas cross-cpu
concurrency can allow another cpu to see state from the *middle* of an
instruction if not atomic.
- Andres