Improve documentation of unique_lock

device/common/include/traccc/device/unique_lock.hpp

@@ -13,55 +13,92 @@
 #include "traccc/definitions/qualifiers.hpp"
 
 namespace traccc::device {
+/**
+ * @brief An RAII-based lock, analogous to `std::unique_lock`.
+ *
+ * This unique lock type can be used to increase the safety of critical
+ * sections at it guarantees that the lock will be released when it goes out of
+ * scope.
+ *
+ * @tparam Mutex The underlying mutex type.
+ *
+ * @warning Be wary of using this code across different architectures, as
+ * lockstep execution may seriously impact the behaviour of this code. In
+ * particular, be wary of the fact that, on lockstep architectures, trying to
+ * acquire this lock may result in deadlock as all locks will try to acquire
+ * the lock at the same time. To resolve this, only try to acquire the lock
+ * from one thread in a work group or block of threads. When using code written
+ * in this way on non-lockstep architectures, be aware that the thread holding
+ * the lock may exit a block before the other threads, releasing the lock early
+ * and breaking thread safety. To avoid this problem, always synchronize
+ * threads after the critical section.
+ */
 template <typename Mutex>
 class unique_lock {
     public:
     using mutex_type = Mutex;
 
-    /*
-     * Construct a unique lock without locking.
+    /**
+     * @brief Construct a unique lock without locking.
      */
     TRACCC_HOST_DEVICE
     unique_lock(mutex_type& m, std::defer_lock_t);
 
-    /*
-     * Construct a unique lock, attempting to lock it.
+    /**
+     * @brief Construct a unique lock, attempting to lock it.
+     *
+     * @warning This function returning does _not_ guarantee that the lock has
+     * been acquired.
+     *
+     * @note Despite the warnings about acquiring locks in lockstep
+     * architectures, calling this function across multiple threads is safe as
+     * it is a non-blocking lock, e.g. it will fail for all but at most one
+     * thread.
      */
     TRACCC_HOST_DEVICE
     unique_lock(mutex_type& m, std::try_to_lock_t);
 
-    /*
-     * Construct a unique lock which was previously locked.
+    /**
+     * @brief Construct a unique lock which was previously locked.
      */
     TRACCC_HOST_DEVICE
     unique_lock(mutex_type& m, std::adopt_lock_t);
 
-    /*
-     * Destroy a lock, freeing the underlying mutex.
+    /**
+     * @brief Destroy a lock, freeing the underlying mutex.
      */
     TRACCC_HOST_DEVICE
     ~unique_lock();
 
-    /*
-     * Lock the lock, blocking until the operation succeeds.
+    /**
+     * @brief Lock the lock, blocking until the operation succeeds.
+     *
+     * @warning On lockstep architectures, calling this method on more than a
+     * single thread in a group will result in deadlock.
      */
     TRACCC_HOST_DEVICE
     void lock();
 
-    /*
-     * Try to lock the lock without blocking.
+    /**
+     * @brief Try to lock the lock without blocking.
+     *
+     * @note Calling this method from multiple threads in the same block is
+     * safe.
      */
     TRACCC_HOST_DEVICE
     bool try_lock();
 
-    /*
-     * Explicitly lock the underlying lock.
+    /**
+     * @brief Explicitly unlock the underlying lock.
+     *
+     * @warning Calling this method on a lock which has not been acquired
+     * constitutes undefined behaviour.
      */
     TRACCC_HOST_DEVICE
     void unlock();
 
-    /*
-     * Check if the lock is locked by this object.
+    /**
+     * @brief Check if the lock is locked by this object.
      */
     TRACCC_HOST_DEVICE
     bool owns_lock() const;