Thread: Atomic spinlock

What is the best way to implement this atomically? I have access to a macro that is atomic (ATOMIC_BLOCK).

Code:

while (busy)
    ;

ATOMIC_BLOCK(ATOMIC_RESTORESTATE)
{
/* Do something. */
}

My main concern is that the value of busy gets changed by an interrupt after I have jumped out of the while loop but before I have entered the atomic block. I guess I could test it again within the atomic block, but I'm not sure if I like that solution or not.

Without any information about the system it is hard to say.
Is the value of the variable busy available to all processes?
Set busy after the loop so others can't use the resource that busy controls.

It can be changed by interrupt routines at any time that interrupts are enabled (and they are enabled here unless you're in an atomic block).

busy controls access to other resources that are shared.

But busy could still change after the if test but before you have entered the atomic block.

Originally Posted by Memloop

But busy could still change after the if test but before you have entered the atomic block.

Yep! you're right and I realized that soon as I hit <submit>.
So loop forever and see if busy is clear or set, as in

Code:

while (1) {
    <begin atomic block>
        if (!busy) 
            <do something>
    <end atomic block>
}