From owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Nov 1 17:30:40 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 5838016A4CE for ; Mon, 1 Nov 2004 17:30:40 +0000 (GMT) Received: from av12-1-sn2.hy.skanova.net (av12-1-sn2.hy.skanova.net [81.228.8.185]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0B79043D45 for ; Mon, 1 Nov 2004 17:30:40 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from joel@automatvapen.se) Received: by av12-1-sn2.hy.skanova.net (Postfix, from userid 502) id CFA1838431; Mon, 1 Nov 2004 18:30:38 +0100 (CET) Received: from smtp4-2-sn2.hy.skanova.net (smtp4-2-sn2.hy.skanova.net [81.228.8.93]) by av12-1-sn2.hy.skanova.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id BC5913825A; Mon, 1 Nov 2004 18:30:38 +0100 (CET) Received: from [212.181.194.103] (t5o55p103.telia.com [212.181.194.103]) by smtp4-2-sn2.hy.skanova.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7906A37E43; Mon, 1 Nov 2004 18:30:37 +0100 (CET) From: Joel Dahl To: Jan Gundtofte-Bruun In-Reply-To: <41864304.3050908@g-b.dk> References: <41864304.3050908@g-b.dk> Content-Type: text/plain Message-Id: <1099330261.673.17.camel@dude.automatvapen.se> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.4.6 Date: Mon, 01 Nov 2004 18:31:01 +0100 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: doc@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: 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 17:30:40 -0000 On Mon, 2004-11-01 at 15:07, Jan Gundtofte-Bruun wrote: > 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]." I'm no committer, but I submitted the big patch that was used to update the kernel configuration chapter to match 5.X, and yes I agree, the description I used is vague. Perhaps someone with commit rights could update it with a better explanation? If you are looking for a simple description of Giant, check: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/freebsd-glossary.html -- Joel