If you use the standard blocking synchronization primitives, you cannot have stale reads. If you don't, the right way to introduce them would be with the C11 me

If you use the standard blocking synchronization primitives, you cannot have stale reads. If you don't, the right way to introduce them would be with the C11 memory model relationships (synchronizes-with, happens-before), volatile shouldn't be touched with a 10 foot pole except for synchronization with signal handlers.