xref: /openbsd/share/man/man9/spl.9 (revision efb80952)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: spl.9,v 1.7 2000/11/09 01:23:10 aaron Exp $
2.\"	$NetBSD: spl.9,v 1.1 1997/03/11 06:15:05 mikel Exp $
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4.\" Copyright (c) 1997 Michael Long.
5.\" Copyright (c) 1997 Jonathan Stone.
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33.Dd March 11, 1997
34.Dt SPL 9
35.Os
36.Sh NAME
37.Nm spl
38.Nd modify system interrupt priority level
39.Sh SYNOPSIS
40.Fd #include <machine/intr.h>
41.Ft int
42.Fn splhigh void
43.Ft int
44.Fn splserial void
45.Ft int
46.Fn splsched void
47.Ft int
48.Fn splclock void
49.Ft int
50.Fn splstatclock void
51.Ft int
52.Fn splimp void
53.Ft int
54.Fn spltty void
55.Ft int
56.Fn splsofttty void
57.Ft int
58.Fn splnet void
59.Ft int
60.Fn splbio void
61.Ft int
62.Fn splsoftnet void
63.Ft int
64.Fn splsoftclock void
65.Ft int
66.Fn spllowersoftclock void
67.Ft int
68.Fn spl0 void
69.Ft void
70.Fn splx "int s"
71.Sh DESCRIPTION
72These functions raise and lower the system priority level.
73They are used by kernel code to block interrupts with priority less
74than or equal to the named level (i.e.,
75.Fn spltty
76blocks interrupts of priority less than or equal to
77.Dv IPL_TTY ) .
78The code may then safely access variables and data structures which
79are used by kernel code that runs at an equal or lower priority level.
80.Pp
81A
82.Nm
83function exists for each distinct priority level which can exist in
84the system.
85These macros and the corresponding priority levels are
86used for various defined purposes, and may be divided into two main
87types: hard and soft.
88Hard interrupts are generated by hardware
89devices, while soft interrupts are generated by callouts and called
90from the kernel's periodic timer interrupt service routine.
91.Pp
92In order of highest to lowest priority, the priority-raising macros
93are:
94.Bl -tag -width splsoftclockXX
95.It Fn splhigh
96blocks all hard and soft interrupts.
97It is used for code that cannot
98tolerate any interrupts, like hardware context switching code and the
99.Xr ddb 4
100in-kernel debugger.
101.It Fn splserial
102blocks hard interrupts from serial interfaces.
103Code running at this level may not access the tty subsystem.
104.It Fn splsched
105blocks interrupts that may access scheduler data structures.
106Code running at or above this level may not call
107.Fn sleep ,
108.Fn tsleep ,
109or
110.Fn wakeup ,
111nor may it post signals.
112.It Fn splclock
113blocks the hardware clock interrupt.
114It is used by
115.Fn hardclock
116to update kernel and process times, and must be used by any other code
117that accesses time-related data.
118.It Fn splstatclock
119blocks the hardware statistics clock interrupt.
120It is used by
121.Fn statclock
122to update kernel profiling and other statistics, and must be used by
123any code that accesses that data.
124This level is identical to
125.Fn splclock
126if there is no separate statistics clock.
127.It Fn splimp
128blocks hard interrupts from all devices that are allowed to use the
129kernel
130.Xr malloc 9 .
131That includes all disk, network, and tty device interrupts.
132.It Fn spltty
133blocks hard interrupts from TTY devices.
134.It Fn splsofttty
135blocks soft interrupts generated by serial devices.
136.It Fn splnet
137blocks hard interrupts from network interfaces.
138.It Fn splbio
139blocks hard interrupts from disks and other mass-storage devices.
140.It Fn splsoftnet
141blocks soft network interrupts.
142.It Fn splsoftclock
143blocks soft clock interrupts.
144.El
145.Pp
146Two macros lower the system priority level.
147They are:
148.Bl -tag -width spllowersoftclockXX
149.It Fn spllowersoftclock
150unblocks all interrupts but the soft clock interrupt.
151.It Fn spl0
152unblocks all interrupts.
153.El
154.Pp
155The
156.Fn splx
157macro restores the system priority level to the one encoded in
158.Fa s ,
159which must be a value previously returned by one of the other
160.Nm
161macros.
162