[gsvelto]

In a word: no. Efficient locks can only be implemented with significant involvement from the kernel. The best locks that can be implemented entirely in user-space will still suffer from the problems described in the article. Locks have complex interactions with scheduling and the only place where informed decisions can be made about them is within the kernel.

That doesn't mean that good locks don't need a good user-space component - they do - but it's only one side of the coin.

[whoisthemachine]

Thanks, that completely makes sense, I hadn't thought of the scheduler's involvement.