"Magnus Damm" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Hi guys,
>
> Please excuse the long delay. I've been on vacation/offline.
>
> On 6/8/06, Vivek Goyal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>
>> I think Eric is talking of only to allocate page_table_a statically.
>
> On x86_64 the size of page_table_b varies with the amount of physical
> memory so  it is probably a good idea to allocate these pages on
> demand.

Agreed, page_table_b the existing table makes sense to allocate dynamically.

>> I think CONFIG_PHYSICAL_START should not be a problem. You anyway will
>> switch to page_table_b before you start copying the pages and overwrite
>> the previous kernel's text section. Kernel also should not set up
>> DMA to these statically allocated pages so there is no problem in
>> allocating page_table_a statically AFAIKS.
>
> You are right, there should be no problem with DMA.
>
>> I don't know what are the advantages of static allocation. Eric
>> can throw some light.
>
> I'd like to hear the advantages.

It is simple because it is all constants.  And it removes the
need for additional infrastructure.  Which for an incremental
patch is a huge win.  Allowing us to address one concern at a time.

> Right now I can only see the disadvantages of static allocation. If
> page_table_a is statically allocated 7/5/3 pages will be consumed on
> x86_64/i386+PAE/i386. I'd like to stay away from eating 12-28 Kbytes
> of kernel memory statically (= at boot time) without any special
> reason.

Yes.  It is a measurable amount of memory.  However it is not so much
that it is prohibitive, and for everyone using the feature it is not
a waste of memory :)

> Let me know what you think and I will rewrite and break out the code.

I just want a simple starting point so we can look at one issue at
a time.  Once we have sorted through what we need in the trivial page
table then we can discuss changing our allocation policy of it to be dynamic.

Eric
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