Write barrier

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In operating systems, write barrier is a mechanism for enforcing a particular ordering in a sequence of writes to a storage system in a computer system. For example, a write barrier in a file system is a mechanism (program logic) that ensures that in-memory file system state is written out to persistent storage in the correct order. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

In Garbage collection

A write barrier in a garbage collector is a fragment of code emitted by the compiler immediately before every store operation to ensure that (e.g.) generational invariants are maintained. [4] [5]

In Computer storage

A write barrier in a memory system, also known as a memory barrier, is a hardware-specific compiler intrinsic that ensures that all preceding memory operations "happen before" all subsequent ones.

See also

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References

  1. "Chapter 16. Write Barriers". docs.fedoraproject.org. Archived from the original on 2022-06-08. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
  2. Tejun Heo (2005-07-22). "I/O Barriers". kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git - Linux kernel source tree. git.kernel.org. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
  3. Jonathan Corbet (2010-08-18). "The end of block barriers". LWN.net . Retrieved 2014-01-24.
  4. Zorn, Benjamin (1990). Barrier methods for Garbage Collection. Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado in Boulder: Citeseer. pp. 11–18. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.52.8857 .
  5. "GC FAQ -- algorithms". www.iecc.com. Retrieved 2020-06-30.