I have my own ideas about how a pointer-sized mutex could be made: The integer is used as a set of flags, counter, index, and a spinlock that guards an entry in a table of pre-allocated kernel objects given to mutexes only when threads are contending, and released afterward (only need at most N table entries for N threads).
Watching MS' SRWLOCK structure change leads me to believe they conditionally store the tail of an xor list (or a table index?) in the pointer when contested. The first 4 bits are flags of some kind.
To clarify
I was wondering if there were any other ideas about making a user mode mutex that is the size of a pointer and only requires the allocation of a kernel object if it is contested. My idea involves spinlocking, so I am hoping there exists something that does not.