Why are we all worked up about atomicity when applying hot-patches if we can just suspend all the threads?

· Raymond Chen · Nov. 7, 2026, 4:53 a.m.
Summary
This blog post discusses the importance of atomicity in the context of Windows hot-patching systems. The author poses a question about whether suspending all threads during a patch could eliminate the need for atomic updates. The complexities of potential issues such as variable-length instructions and the creation of new threads during patching are explored, ultimately underscoring the necessity of atomicity to prevent problematic code execution during updates.