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Date:      Thu, 23 Aug 2018 11:28:25 +0200
From:      Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@embedded-brains.de>
To:        Eugene Grosbein <eugen@grosbein.net>, FreeBSD <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: epoch(9) background information?
Message-ID:  <978ae736-89b9-6d83-e2a1-d2834ca8ae55@embedded-brains.de>
In-Reply-To: <5B7E7804.4030907@grosbein.net>
References:  <db397431-2c4c-64de-634a-20f38ce6a60e@embedded-brains.de> <3bfedcc3-0dae-7979-2bd4-da83f2c67e87@embedded-brains.de> <5B7E7804.4030907@grosbein.net>

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On 23/08/18 11:01, Eugene Grosbein wrote:
> On 23.08.2018 15:39, Sebastian Huber wrote:
>
>> We used the FreeBSD network stack also on low-end targets
>> (uni-processor) such as MCF548x ColdFire, Atmel SAM V71, SPARC LEON,
>> etc. in current production environments (not legacy systems). The
>> introduction of lock-free data structures (Concurrency Kit) and this
>> epoch memory reclamation makes little sense on these targets (at least
>> from my point of view). However, FreeBSD has still the SMP configurati=
on
>> option (sys/conf/options) which suggests that SMP is optional. Is a
>> uni-processor system something which is considered by the FreeBSD
>> community as a thing worth supporting or can I expect that this is an
>> exotic environment which will get less and less well supported in the
>> future? I just need some guidance so that I can better plan for future
>> FreeBSD baseline updates.
> FreeBSD as virtualized uniprocessor guest should be supported at full s=
cale,
> as well as embedded applications using single core x86 and non-x86 CPUs=
.

If something should be supported, then there must be also someone who=20
ensures that this is actually the case. I don't know the FreeBSD=20
community good enough to judge if there is sufficient=20
manpower/funding/interest for a well supported uni-processor FreeBSD.=20
 From the commits it is clear that FreeBSD receives a lot of attention=20
from CDN providers such as Netflix and Limelight Networks. They probably=20
don't care about uni-processor system support at all. The use of=20
lock-free data structures (Concurrency Kit) and the epoch memory=20
reclamation are now a mandatory infrastructure. There is no FreeBSD=20
configuration option to avoid this.

The Concurrency Kit in sys/contrib/ck has no explicit support for the=20
FreeBSD RISC-V and MIPS architectures. So, I guess the fall-back=20
sys/contrib/ck/include/gcc/ck_pr.h is used. The atomic support in=20
sys/contrib/ck partially duplicates/extends the general atomic support=20
of the FreeBSD kernel ATOMIC(9). To me it is a bit unclear what will be=20
the future direction in the FreeBSD kernel with respect to lock-free=20
data structures.

--=20
Sebastian Huber, embedded brains GmbH

Address : Dornierstr. 4, D-82178 Puchheim, Germany
Phone   : +49 89 189 47 41-16
Fax     : +49 89 189 47 41-09
E-Mail  : sebastian.huber@embedded-brains.de
PGP     : Public key available on request.

Diese Nachricht ist keine gesch=C3=A4ftliche Mitteilung im Sinne des EHUG=
.




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