pub unsafe fn read_volatile<T>(src: *const T) -> T
Expand description
Performs a volatile read of the value from src
without moving it. This
leaves the memory in src
unchanged.
Volatile operations are intended to act on I/O memory, and are guaranteed to not be elided or reordered by the compiler across other volatile operations.
§Notes
Rust does not currently have a rigorously and formally defined memory model, so the precise semantics of what “volatile” means here is subject to change over time. That being said, the semantics will almost always end up pretty similar to C11’s definition of volatile.
The compiler shouldn’t change the relative order or number of volatile
memory operations. However, volatile memory operations on zero-sized types
(e.g., if a zero-sized type is passed to read_volatile
) are noops
and may be ignored.
§Safety
Behavior is undefined if any of the following conditions are violated:
-
src
must be valid for reads. -
src
must be properly aligned. -
src
must point to a properly initialized value of typeT
.
Like read
, read_volatile
creates a bitwise copy of T
, regardless of
whether T
is Copy
. If T
is not Copy
, using both the returned
value and the value at *src
can violate memory safety.
However, storing non-Copy
types in volatile memory is almost certainly
incorrect.
Note that even if T
has size 0
, the pointer must be non-null and properly aligned.
Just like in C, whether an operation is volatile has no bearing whatsoever
on questions involving concurrent access from multiple threads. Volatile
accesses behave exactly like non-atomic accesses in that regard. In particular,
a race between a read_volatile
and any write operation to the same location
is undefined behavior.
§Examples
Basic usage:
let x = 12;
let y = &x as *const i32;
unsafe {
assert_eq!(std::ptr::read_volatile(y), 12);
}