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Date:      Wed, 1 Mar 2017 14:49:54 -0300
From:      Pedro Arthur <bygrandao@gmail.com>
To:        Alan Somers <asomers@freebsd.org>
Cc:        Saurav Sachidanand <sauravsachidanand@gmail.com>,  "freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org" <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>, Ian Lepore <ian@freebsd.org>, Allan Jude <allanjude@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: [GSoC 2017] Original proposal: Port kernel Lua to FreeBSD
Message-ID:  <CAKN1MR6XNGnjn92Rkg2MkSWwQeeQo8D7_aDBJYhSqumOk8ratw@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAOtMX2hSTpJmL81NKJVWRUZ=vq66uKTUW0VCSx9-oaqkQ7mpzw@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <CACKq%2BiX_V2MY9sNf-buEOO1S87dbhDv%2BPGbUEqRUVkvzz3pdvw@mail.gmail.com> <244231A2-EB18-4E58-A2B2-927F55D54950@FreeBSD.org> <CANCZdfpiiJLyLbEQnk86mfwf07JGByq5oT_1-T43iEhscEEgMg@mail.gmail.com> <f221e624-1342-7548-a3f9-806a1d25b90d@freebsd.org> <1488383213.60166.10.camel@freebsd.org> <CANCZdfoYk1v9axkT0CqUbCWOaoPrEDoJRPpPk0kk5GDjDE=-fw@mail.gmail.com> <CACKq%2BiVMd0edbOpg2Hr1bDdFmwekqt78YiCWbaY-iC16gqOW5g@mail.gmail.com> <CAOtMX2hSTpJmL81NKJVWRUZ=vq66uKTUW0VCSx9-oaqkQ7mpzw@mail.gmail.com>

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Hi,
I'm the author of the lua bootloader project, I think Rui Paulo did a few
improvements located in [1].
I don't remember correctly but I guess there was a few issues with lua
using floating point for numbers, but it can easily be changed to use
integers.
I think rebasing the branch would be painful, maybe we could cherry pick
the changes to a fresh branch?

If needed I may help getting the code up to date, also it would be helpful
if the "sharp edges" were documented in the project wiki page [2] or a new
one dedicated to the lua bootloader.


[1] - https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/projects/lua-bootloader/
[2] - https://wiki.freebsd.org/SummerOfCode2014/LuaLoader

2017-03-01 13:12 GMT-03:00 Alan Somers <asomers@freebsd.org>:

> Python is huge, and we already have people complaining that the
> bootloader doesn't fit in their boot partitions ever since it gained
> GELI support.  The advantage of Lua is that the embedded interpreter
> is very small.  I'd rather not bloat the bootloader too much.
>
> -Alan
>
> On Wed, Mar 1, 2017 at 9:08 AM, Saurav Sachidanand
> <sauravsachidanand@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Is it related to this project
> > https://wiki.freebsd.org/SummerOfCode2014/LuaLoader ?
> > Apparently, that project created a generic interface in the bootloader
> > to plug in any
> > interpreter, and then added Lua.
> >
> > How about adding Python as well, as a GSoC project? A team from Intel
> managed to
> > get Python to run inside GRUB [1] [2]. I can use their work as a
> > reference for modifying
> > the Python interpreter.
> >
> > [1] - https://lwn.net/Articles/641244/
> > [2] - https://github.com/biosbits/bits
> >
> > On Wed, Mar 1, 2017 at 3:51 PM, Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com> wrote:
> >> On Wed, Mar 1, 2017 at 8:46 AM, Ian Lepore <ian@freebsd.org> wrote:
> >>> On Wed, 2017-03-01 at 16:14 +0800, Julian Elischer wrote:
> >>>> On 28/2/17 2:01 am, Warner Losh wrote:
> >>>> >
> >>>> > On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 8:26 AM, Allan Jude <allanjude@freebsd.org>
> >>>> > wrote:
> >>>> > >
> >>>> > > On February 27, 2017 5:28:41 AM PST, Saurav Sachidanand <sauravsa
> >>>> > > chidanand@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>> > > >
> >>>> > > > Hello FreeBSD community,
> >>>> > > >
> >>>> > > > I'm
> >>>> > > > Saurav Sachidanand, and I'm
> >>>> > > > a CS sophomore studying in India
> >>>> > > > .
> >>>> > > > I have an interest in operating systems development and wish to
> >>>> > > > contribute
> >>>> > > > to the FreeBSD community. I'm proficient with C and have some
> >>>> > > > experience in
> >>>> > > > kernel programming. Hence, I'd like to propose an original
> >>>> > > > project for
> >>>> > > > GSoC
> >>>> > > > 2017 that I feel would benefit this community.
> >>>> > > >
> >>>> > > > In past years, the Lua interpreter was ported to run inside the
> >>>> > > > Linux
> >>>> > > > and
> >>>> > > > NetBSD kernel [1]. Lua was chosen because it's interpreter is
> >>>> > > > very
> >>>> > > > small (~240
> >>>> > > > KB) compared to that of Python or Ruby, it's MIT licensed, and
> >>>> > > > is
> >>>> > > > almost
> >>>> > > > freestanding. A working demonstration of it is a packet
> >>>> > > > filtering
> >>>> > > > algorithm
> >>>> > > > written entirely in kernel Lua [2].
> >>>> > > >
> >>>> > > > Specifically, my proposal would be to port the following that
> >>>> > > > are
> >>>> > > > currently
> >>>> > > > written for NetBSD:
> >>>> > > > - the modified Lua VM source code with _KERNEL preprocessor
> >>>> > > > directives
> >>>> > > > to
> >>>> > > > exclude user-space functionality like floating point, the io
> >>>> > > > and os
> >>>> > > > module
> >>>> > > > in the standard library, etc. [3]
> >>>> > > > - the kernel module device driver for /dev/lua, to which Lua
> >>>> > > > scripts
> >>>> > > > are
> >>>> > > > fed to be executed [4], [5]
> >>>> > > > - the luactl user-space program to control the Lua device and a
> >>>> > > > couple
> >>>> > > > of
> >>>> > > > sysctl variables which serve similar purpose [6], [7]
> >>>> > > >
> >>>> > > > And then:
> >>>> > > > - run the Lua test suite targeting whatever we support in the
> >>>> > > > kernel to
> >>>> > > > make sure it works [8]
> >>>> > > > - and write Lua bindings to the kernel interfaces that would
> >>>> > > > interest
> >>>> > > > the
> >>>> > > > FreeBSD community
> >>>> > > >
> >>>> > > > Since NetBSD and FreeBSD have similar kernel interfaces
> >>>> > > > (mutexes,
> >>>> > > > linked
> >>>> > > > lists, device switch interface), the porting shouldn't involve
> >>>> > > > too much
> >>>> > > > code refactoring. Also, this would all be an experiment in that
> >>>> > > > we
> >>>> > > > don't
> >>>> > > > fully know what the real world use cases might be, but it would
> >>>> > > > attract
> >>>> > > > more people to writing kernel code who otherwise wouldn't
> >>>> > > > because of
> >>>> > > > having
> >>>> > > > to do everything in C. And it would be interesting to carry out
> >>>> > > > it out
> >>>> > > > in
> >>>> > > > FreeBSD as well since it has a larger community than NetBSD.
> >>>> > > >
> >>>> > > > I humbly request anyone who is interested in this project to be
> >>>> > > > my
> >>>> > > > potential mentor(s) for GSoC.
> >>>> > > >
> >>>> > > > More slides on kernel Lua in NetBSD - [9], [10].
> >>>> > > >
> >>>> > > > Thanks,
> >>>> > > > Saurav
> >>>> > > >
> >>>> > > > [1] - http://www.netbsd.org/~lneto/dls14.pdf
> >>>> > > > [2] - https://www.netbsd.org/~lneto/eurobsdcon14.pdf
> >>>> > > > [3] - https://github.com/jsonn/src/tree/trunk/external/mit/lua/
> >>>> > > > dist/src
> >>>> > > > [4] -
> >>>> > > > https://github.com/IIJ-NetBSD/netbsd-src/tree/master/sys/module
> >>>> > > > s/lua
> >>>> > > > [5] -
> >>>> > > > https://github.com/IIJ-NetBSD/netbsd-src/tree/master/sys/module
> >>>> > > > s/luasystm
> >>>> > > > [6] - https://github.com/IIJ-NetBSD/netbsd-src/tree/master/sbin
> >>>> > > > /luactl
> >>>> > > > [7] - http://netbsd.gw.com/cgi-bin/man-cgi?lua+4+NetBSD-current
> >>>> > > > [8] - http://www.lua.org/tests/
> >>>> > > > [9] -
> >>>> > > > https://www.netbsd.org/gallery/presentations/mbalmer/fosdem2012
> >>>> > > > /kernel_mode_lua.pdf
> >>>> > > > [10] - https://www.lua.org/wshop13/Cormack.pdf
> >>>> > > > _______________________________________________
> >>>> > > > freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list
> >>>> > > > https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers
> >>>> > > > To unsubscribe, send any mail to
> >>>> > > > "freebsd-hackers-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
> >>>> > > This may be quite a nice thing to have. Another upcoming use for
> >>>> > > LUA in the kernel is ZFS Channel Programs. These allow a number
> >>>> > > of ZFS operations to be completed as a single atomic transaction.
> >>>> > >
> >>>> > > I would hope we could structure this in such a way as to not end
> >>>> > > up with two copies of Lua in the kernel.
> >>>> > There's also a 3/4 finished lua in the boot loader that you might
> >>>> > be
> >>>> > able to leverage as well....
> >>>> I'd like to see that finished. While Devin has done Heroic work with
> >>>> the forth in the loader, I think it's time has come.
> >>>> It' be nice to have something a little less '60s.
> >>>>
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> > Warner
> >>>
> >>> I was under the impression that the "lua in bootloader" work was
> >>> basically done and just needed testing, which nobody has done.  I think
> >>> it's all sitting in the projects/lua-bootloader branch in svn.
> >>
> >> The branch compiles. Testing has been done, but there's some missing
> >> bits. It basically kinda works for the average case, but more advanced
> >> uses of the bootloader still have sharp pointy edges on them, the
> >> extent of the pointy edges is unknown. At this point the rebasing of
> >> the branch is non-trivial due to the merge conflicts that have crept
> >> in. They don't look awful, but when I tried to use git to rebase to a
> >> more modern FreeBSD, there were lots of stupid things. Maybe I'll try
> >> again...
> >>
> >> Warner
> > _______________________________________________
> > freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list
> > https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers
> > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscribe@
> freebsd.org"
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>



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