Synchronization (Non-blocking) between Interrupt Handlers and Processes

			  Michael Greenwald
		      Distributed Systems Group
		     Computer Science Department
			 Stanford University

Non-blocking synchronization (NBS) has many advantages over blocking
synchronization.  Typically these advantages are discussed in the
context of multi-processors.  In this talk we concentrate on the
benefits of using NBS on a uni-processor to synchronize asynchronous
handlers (e.g. interrupt handlers or signal handlers) and main-line
code.

We compare NBS to both blocking synchronization and to disabling
asynchronous events.  We address some concerns with starvation.  In
general we conclude that in cases of interest NBS is more robust than
competing approaches, yet has comparable performance.