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Date:      Fri, 7 Dec 2012 16:31:54 -0700
From:      Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com>
To:        Alfred Perlstein <bright@mu.org>
Cc:        Adrian Chadd <adrian@freebsd.org>, Alfred Perlstein <alfred@freebsd.org>, Andre Oppermann <andre@freebsd.org>, freebsd-arch@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: svn commit: r243594 - head/sys/netinet
Message-ID:  <52564974-563C-499F-9860-ADACA0DD22CE@bsdimp.com>
In-Reply-To: <50C278B0.3040107@mu.org>
References:  <201211270304.qAR34PfD056691@svn.freebsd.org> <50B53ABC.1010304@freebsd.org> <50B57F46.1060207@mu.org> <50C205DC.1040701@freebsd.org> <AC499CCF-3812-4CA9-929C-05AA4C39F223@mu.org> <50C23B5E.3020509@freebsd.org> <50C26BF9.1050106@mu.org> <CAJ-Vmo=okfoDzUSBJ%2B1=iq44EaNw_uOWCOTB-7TVU6%2BdFZeFyA@mail.gmail.com> <50C278B0.3040107@mu.org>

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On Dec 7, 2012, at 4:16 PM, Alfred Perlstein wrote:

> I'm sorry Adrian, the difference between installing a server OS with a =
CDROM/USBkey is vastly different than the type of user that is using an =
embedded board.
>=20
> The embedded user will be doing so over some weird install media, =
using serial and all kinds of other things.
>=20
> If you have tunables or compile time options you want to distribute on =
MIPS/arm, then by all means force TCBHASH to 512.
>=20
> You can easily make a "small memory kernel include file" for this.
>=20
> Please do it.  Please make ARM/MIPS/whatever better for you.
>=20
> As far as some pipe-dream runtime tuning, all singing/dancing thingy =
to make everything happy, well that doesn't exist.
>=20
> So either write it, or take a pragmatic approach and fix your =
platforms and please stop standing in the way of server OS.

Nobody is standing in the way of the server OS when we point out that =
the tuning for the server actively breaks small systems. That's called =
bug reporting, something any sane organization would reply with "oh, =
let's fix the bug" rather than a raft of finger pointing.  The bug here =
is that the system will not boot at all for lower memory configurations. =
"Tuning for servers" isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card for this bug.

Seriously though, we should have these kinds of tuning in files that =
different platforms include or not depending on what the system is being =
tuned for.  We can even put them in GENERIC for amd64 if you want, =
that's fine so the out-of-the-box experience is tuned for big-iron =
servers. But to require all hardware that isn't big iron to hand-tune =
dozens of parameters (or even just a dozen) is going to end in tears.

To summarize: we agree on the goal, and disagree that the current =
approach is sane,

Warner

> -Alfred
>=20
> On 12/7/12 3:03 PM, Adrian Chadd wrote:
>> Alfred,
>>=20
>> I can make the same argument about "out of the box" experiences with
>> Linux and FreeBSD on embedded.
>>=20
>> If the embedded experience out of the box "isn't as good or better"
>> than Linux, people will go with Linux.
>>=20
>> I think you're only really considering the server space. The bigger
>> issue here is "people who are changing the algorithms are making
>> different but same mistakes as the earlier algorithms", which is
>> "works for me,".
>>=20
>> Solving a lot of this stuff for both small and large scale doesn't
>> _have_ to be too difficult. The current attempt at making things =
nicer
>> for the server space has shown it doesn't work for the non-server
>> space. That means the problem isn't fully understood.
>>=20
>> Honestly, I'd rather see a lot of this auto-tuning be done at =
run-time
>> rather than compile or boot time, with some relatively smart tools
>> that can look at the system specifications and current mbuf/allocator
>> configuration, look at some historical information about allocations,
>> and make suggestions about what can be tuned.
>>=20
>> You can _also_ make the defaults work well on the low end and the =
high
>> end. The tool(s) shouldn't be _instead_ of that, it should be _with_
>> that.
>>=20
>> Let's try to understand the problem space a bit better before we =
start
>> changing things some more. It's obvious from the recent changes that
>> people don't understand the bigger picture.
>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>> Adrian
>>=20
>=20
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