Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 08:10:43 +1100 From: Peter Jeremy <peter.jeremy@alcatel.com.au> To: Richard Wackerbarth <rkw@dataplex.net> Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org, freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Subject: Pageable kernels (was Re: diskless boot roadmap) Message-ID: <99Nov4.080518est.40325@border.alcanet.com.au> In-Reply-To: <99110304555400.19188@nomad.dataplex.net> References: <99Nov3.160403est.40416@border.alcanet.com.au> <199911030515.VAA02306@dingo.cdrom.com> <99Nov3.163119est.40376@border.alcanet.com.au> <99110304555400.19188@nomad.dataplex.net>
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[This is heading more towards -arch than -current]
On 1999-Nov-03 21:53:07 +1100, Richard Wackerbarth wrote:
>> How much of the probe code can we move into userland?
>Or alternately, transient kernel memory. Use it, then lose it.
IMHO, there are some items (like the PNP ID tables) that really belong
in a user-editable file, rather than the kernel source. This file
could then be read by /boot/loader (and maybe a runtime daemon similar
to pccardd).
And taking the idea of transient kernel memory a bit further: How
about supporting paging within the kernel? At least for text space,
this would seem to be a fairly simple matter of tagging functions as
pageable (eg add '__attribute__((section("text_pageable")))' to the
function declaration), and treating that section of KVM the same way
as user text space (though probably with a higher preference for being
resident and a higher priority for paging in). Paging data may be a
bit trickier, but would seem to be amenable to a mixture of variable
attributes and a new `pageable' flag for kernel malloc.
Initialisation code is an obvious candidate for paging, but I suspect
that everything except interrupt handlers, the paging code and
device drivers associated with the paging devices could be made
pageable.
In fact, the above all sounds so obvious and simple that I wonder
if I'm missing something...
Peter
--
Peter Jeremy (VK2PJ) peter.jeremy@alcatel.com.au
Alcatel Australia Limited
41 Mandible St Phone: +61 2 9690 5019
ALEXANDRIA NSW 2015 Fax: +61 2 9690 5982
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