For any section of code too large to be defined as an atomic operation, more complicated
means of providing critical sections are needed. To ensure that no window is left open for a
race condition to slip in, even a window one instruction long, these critical sections always
have an atomic operation at their base.
Interrupt disabling is one of the key mechanisms used to ensure that a sequence of kernel
statements is operated as a critical section. It allows a kernel control path to continue
executing even when hardware devices issue IRQ signals, thus providing an effective way to
protect data structures that are also accessed by interrupt handlers.
