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Date:      Mon, 02 Oct 95 17:30:29 GMT
From:      "gj%pcs.dec.com@inet-gw-1.pa.dec.com" <garyj@rks32.pcs.dec.com>
To:        hackers%freebsd.org@inet-gw-1.pa.dec.com
Subject:   Re: FreeBSD 2.1 will require a minimum of 8MB for installation. 
Message-ID:  <m0szohC-0005OqC@rks32.pcs.dec.com>
In-Reply-To: Message from Julian Elischer <julian@ref.tfs.com>  of Mon, 02 Oct 95 04:22:49 MST.

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Julian Elischer wrote:

>> 
>> 
>> Surely there is more of a problem fitting everything at runtime than just
>> loading it?
> The limiting factor is either fitting the compressed file between
> 3MB and the end of RAM, or fitting the output of the decompression
> between 1MB and 3MB.. I've seen both fail at various times..
>
> one answer might be to put the decompression routines and entrypoints
> at the END of the file :)
> that way you could over-write the beginning as you decompressed (yukko)

this idea isn't bad, since the problem seems to be that the decompressing
code can be over-written if the kernel is loaded below 3 MB. The 3MB load
point was, AFAIK, a seat-of-the-pants decision. At least, it was for me when
I was working on the gzip stuff earlier this year and phk seems to have kept
it.

If we put the code at the end then we might be able to load the compressed
kernel at 2 or 2-1/2 MB instead of at 3 MB. By how much is the kernel too
big ?

I could look into this in my copious spare time :)

Gary





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