From owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Nov 1 14:07:06 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8692316A4CE for ; Mon, 1 Nov 2004 14:07:06 +0000 (GMT) Received: from sack.dreamhost.com (sack.dreamhost.com [66.33.213.6]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 46B1543D41 for ; Mon, 1 Nov 2004 14:07:06 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jan@g-b.dk) Received: from [9.150.171.121] (blueice2n1.uk.ibm.com [195.212.29.75]) by sack.dreamhost.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 60C8813DA3E for ; Mon, 1 Nov 2004 06:07:05 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <41864304.3050908@g-b.dk> Date: Mon, 01 Nov 2004 15:07:00 +0100 From: Jan Gundtofte-Bruun User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8a4) Gecko/20040927 X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: doc@FreeBSD.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Improvement request for Handbook section 8.4: adaptive_giant X-BeenThere: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Documentation project List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 01 Nov 2004 14:07:06 -0000 Hi, I was just browsing the "compile your own kernel" section in the handbook, and I must say that it is excellently written. I have never compiled a kernel, and this section is kept in a language that is friendly and understandable to a mortal like me. Considering the subject, that is quite a feat. However, there is one line, in section 8.4, that sticks out: options ADAPTIVE_GIANT # Giant mutex is adaptive. This option causes Giant to be included in the set of mutexes adaptively spun on. The wording of this line is in contrast to the rest of the document, the description is simply not adding any value. I have no idea if it would be dangerous to comment this line out (to optimize). I don't think I need to know why mutexes spin adaptively, but please consider spending 5 words to exlain what a Giant is used for, so that I can decide if I need this. At least, a safe default could be something like "If you don't know what a Giant is, you [should leave this in]/[can safely comment this out]." Thanks! :o) Jan Gundtofte-Bruun -- 010\001\111