-
-If the search function drops the per-entry lock before returning, then
-the caller will be processing stale data in any case. If it is really
-OK to be processing stale data, then you don't need a "deleted" flag.
-If processing stale data really is a problem, then you need to hold the
-per-entry lock across all of the code that uses the value looked up.
+ Why does the search function need to return holding the per-entry
+ lock for this deleted-flag technique to be helpful?
+
+ If the search function drops the per-entry lock before returning,
+ then the caller will be processing stale data in any case. If it
+ is really OK to be processing stale data, then you don't need a
+ "deleted" flag. If processing stale data really is a problem,
+ then you need to hold the per-entry lock across all of the code
+ that uses the value that was returned.