COMPILER_FENCE uses deprecated function

[deleualex]

Hi All! I'm relatively new to the project and just started to get familiar with the code. It's a great way to keep in shape.

I just have one curiosity: I see in the code in several places this COMPILER_FENCE macro that uses the deprecated intrinsic function "ReadWriteBarrier". According to MS Docs:

The _ReadBarrier, _WriteBarrier, and _ReadWriteBarrier compiler intrinsics and the MemoryBarrier macro are all deprecated and should not be used. For inter-thread communication, use mechanisms such as atomic_thread_fence and std::atomic<T>, which are defined in the C++ Standard Library. For hardware access, use the /volatile:iso compiler option together with the volatile keyword.

Do you guys see any risk in continuing to use this? 

It's used quite often in the code, and it's a quite sensitive matter I recon (memory and compiler optimization).

Thanks,

Alex

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by deleualex

[Stan`]

Hey @deleualex

Welcome to the forums, and thanks for your interest in 0 A.D. programming!

We carry a lot of old code in the engine, and this is no exception. It would be nice to replace them, there is quite a few things to thread or that should make use of the threadpool.

So if you want to make a patch go ahead  Feel free to get in touch with @wraitii and @vladislavbelov as they have more knowledge  

[phosit]

I made a patch which does remove `COMPILER_FENCE` in some places: D4790

Edited December 28, 2022 by phosit

[vladislavbelov]

18 minutes ago, phosit said:

I made a patch which does remove `COMPILER_FENCE` in some places: D4790

There is a patch by deleualex already: D4487.