- * The task_lock() is required to dereference current->cpuset safely.
- * Without it, we could pick up the pointer value of current->cpuset
- * in one instruction, and then attach_task could give us a different
- * cpuset, and then the cpuset we had could be removed and freed,
- * and then on our next instruction, we could dereference a no longer
- * valid cpuset pointer to get its mems_generation field.
+ * Reading current->cpuset->mems_generation doesn't need task_lock
+ * to guard the current->cpuset derefence, because it is guarded
+ * from concurrent freeing of current->cpuset by attach_task(),
+ * using RCU.
+ *
+ * The rcu_dereference() is technically probably not needed,
+ * as I don't actually mind if I see a new cpuset pointer but
+ * an old value of mems_generation. However this really only
+ * matters on alpha systems using cpusets heavily. If I dropped
+ * that rcu_dereference(), it would save them a memory barrier.
+ * For all other arch's, rcu_dereference is a no-op anyway, and for
+ * alpha systems not using cpusets, another planned optimization,
+ * avoiding the rcu critical section for tasks in the root cpuset
+ * which is statically allocated, so can't vanish, will make this
+ * irrelevant. Better to use RCU as intended, than to engage in
+ * some cute trick to save a memory barrier that is impossible to
+ * test, for alpha systems using cpusets heavily, which might not
+ * even exist.