Locking:(9)

🎀 Locking: 🎀

okay bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual — yes this is literally the locking page and yes it's short but it's IMPORTANT, so stay with me 💖

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✨ Locking: ✨

okay so first thing, ovs_lock is the main character here 👑 — all writes are protected by it. and when I say all writes I mean ALL of them, like:

• writes to device state — and yes that includes add/remove datapath, port, set operations on vports, etc. 🛠️
• writes to other state — flow table modifications, set miscellaneous datapath parameters, etc. 🌀

both of those categories? ovs_lock. no cap. 🔒

Meanwhile, reads are protected by RCU — that's a whole different vibe, she runs lock-free-ish and we love her for it 🌸

Then there's the little squad of special cases (mostly stats) that have their own synchronization — but ngl they're lowkey chill because they nest under all of the above and they don't interact with each other. so they're independent, but still polite and hierarchical about it 🫶

and the nesting order, since you asked:

• the RTNL lock nests inside ovs_mutex 💅

that's it. that's the hierarchy. respect it. periodt. 🔥

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• Kernel file ./net/openvswitch/datapath.c — go read the source, iykyk 📖

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fr fr please don't mess with the locking order, bestie — the nesting rules are the whole point 🙈

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and that's a wrap, gorgeous ✨ this page came to you from ./net/openvswitch, dated October 2026, under the manual name Locking:(9) 💜 mwah, go write some correctly-locked kernel code 🦋🎀