Interrupts are like threads, except worse because you have also reentrancy issues (e.g., can IRQ A happen while the handler for IRQ A is still running, possibly outside of IRQ context). Volatile is not sufficient for several reasons, not the least because insertion/removal into a linked list is not an atomic operation. As I see it you have two choices: 1. Introduce fine-grained locking of list nodes by customizing boost.intrusive (you have to be careful because it’s easy to end up in a deadlock due to reentrancy issues – unless you have some constraints, like IRQ levels, that can prevent this.) 2. Use a lock-free list You should read about how operating systems (Windows, Linux) tackle these issues. From: Boost-users <boost-users-bounces@lists.boost.org> On Behalf Of nat ersoz via Boost-users Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2018 18:38 To: boost-users@lists.boost.org Cc: nat ersoz <natersoz@gmail.com> Subject: [Boost-users] Boost intrusive list volatile hook I intend to use the boost intrusive list to implement an observer pattern. * The list will cross interrupt boundaries; meaning one interrupt will produce the notifications and the other interrupt will observer the notifications. * The observer, in response to a notification, might detach itself from the list using the the hook's unlink() function. * I think that I will need the hook to be declared volatile in order to accommodate this. I have a minimal code sample here: https://github.com/natersoz/patterns/blob/master/observer/intrusive_list_mem... My list hook member declaration: using list_hook_type = boost::intrusive::list_member_hook< boost::intrusive::link_mode<boost::intrusive::auto_unlink> >; list_hook_type hook; My list declaration: using list_type = boost::intrusive::list< Observer<NotificationType>, boost::intrusive::constant_time_size<false>, boost::intrusive::member_hook< Observer<NotificationType>, typename Observer<NotificationType>::list_hook_type, &Observer<NotificationType>::hook> >; If I a the volatile keyword to the list hood type, I cannot figure out how to get the list_type declaration to fit into the list template list. Is it possible? Thank you. -- Nat Ersoz 425-417-5182 (cell)