From owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jun 8 10:09:01 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 CE81716A4CE for ; Tue, 8 Jun 2004 10:09:01 +0000 (GMT) Received: from frodo.otenet.gr (frodo.otenet.gr [195.170.0.12]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9DBD743D2D for ; Tue, 8 Jun 2004 10:08:57 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Received: from orion.daedalusnetworks.priv (aris.bedc.ondsl.gr [62.103.39.226]) by frodo.otenet.gr (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i58A8hEv025425; Tue, 8 Jun 2004 13:08:49 +0300 Received: from orion.daedalusnetworks.priv (orion.daedalusnetworks.priv [127.0.0.1])i5898aWO002291; Tue, 8 Jun 2004 12:08:37 +0300 Received: (from keramida@localhost)i5898UFw002290; Tue, 8 Jun 2004 12:08:30 +0300 X-Authentication-Warning: orion.daedalusnetworks.priv: keramida set sender to keramida@ceid.upatras.gr using -f Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 12:08:30 +0300 From: George Keramidas To: Mark Linimon Message-ID: <20040608090830.GA2270@orion.daedalusnetworks.priv> References: <200406080307.31235.linimon@lonesome.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200406080307.31235.linimon@lonesome.com> cc: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: RFC: additions to the Glossary 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: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 10:09:02 -0000 On 2004-06-08 03:07, Mark Linimon wrote: > This patch adds definitions for Giant, LOR, NDISulator, OBE, pointyhat, > and Project Evil, and expands the entry for BSD. > > Unless anyone objects, I would like to go ahead and commit these changes. I think they're great :-) : + Giant : + : + The name of a kernel resource lock that protects a large : + set of kernel resources. It is an unwanted remnant of much : + earlier BSD kernels which used very coarse : + locking mechanisms (for instance, if any process was in the : + network stack, every other process was locked out). While : + this was adequate in the days where a machine might have only : + a few dozen processes, one networking card, and certainly only : + one processor, in current times it is an unacceptable : + performance bottleneck. &os; developers are actively working : + on replacing every occurrence with fine-grained locks that : + protect individual resources. Cool, this is probably a much needed entry, since a lot of people are going to ask what "Giant" is, once they see it referenced in a commit log or an old, archived mail message. I don't like to sound like I'm knit picking too much, but perhaps "every occurence with..." could be "every use of Giant with..."? An explanation of what "coarse" and "fine-grained" locking is, is probably going to be useful too. : + Lock Order Reversal : + LOR : + : + The &os; kernel uses a number of resource locks to : + arbitrate contention for those resources. A run-time : + lock diagnostic system found in &os.current; kernels : + (but removed for releases), called &man.witness.4;, : + detects the potential for deadlocks due to locking errors. : + (&man.witness.4; is actually slightly conservative, so : + it is possible to get false positives.) A true positive : + report indicates "if you were unlucky, a deadlock would : + have happened here". ''...indicates "that" if you were unlucky...'' sounds a bit better. : + Overtaken By Events : + OBE : + : + Indicates a suggested change (such as a Problem Report : + or a feature request) which is no longer relevant or : + applicable due to passage of time or more recent changes : + to &os;. When time simply passes a problem is not very likely to just go away. More often than not, the user that reported it loses interest or changes his/her tools to avoid hitting the problem again. I don't think that mentioning the "passage of time" is a good idea here and it does sound a bit funny as a phrase. - Giorgos