Glossary

MP-unsafe

Does not provide the necessary serialization to run on more than one CPU at a time. For example, a driver will be MP unsafe if it relies upon priorities between threads for accessing shared resources, or uses the CLI/STI method for protecting resources like semaphores or memory.

Provides the necessary serialization to run properly in a system with greater than one processor. Does not use invalid UP serialization techniques. For example, a driver will be MP safe if it does not rely upon priorities between threads for accessing shared resources, or use the CLI/STI method for protecting resources like semaphores or memory.

Provides proper MP serialization techniques which allow multiple threads to run concurrently on more than one CPU.