On Sat, 23 Feb 2013, Joerg Sonnenberger wrote:
On Sat, Feb 23, 2013 at 07:11:45AM -0800, Paul Goyette wrote:
According to the man page sem(4), one needs to include "options
P1003_1B_SEMAPHORE" in the kernel config file in order to support
this feature. Yet, the file kern/uipc_sem.c is included
unconditionally in all kernels, and there appears to be nothing in
NetBSD anywhere that depends on P1003_1B_SEMAPHORE.
It's left over. It should *not* be a module.
So, I see three possible paths forward here:
1. (status quo) Don't touch anything, leave ksem as a module which can
only be (and always is) built-in.
2. Remove the partial MODULE-arization that has already been done, and
treat ksem just like any other mandatory, non-optional part of the
kernel.
3. Finish the MODULE-arization, which would enable us to unload and
reload the module at will, without requiring a reboot. (The default, of
course, would remain including ksem in all kernels, but it would be
controlled by an "options BLAH" so a highly-modular kernel could be
configured with "nooptions BLAH".)
Option 1 is easiest, but does it really make sense to have a non-modular
module? :)
Of the other two options, I'd prefer #3. Like mouse@ I am unaware of
what makes ksem mandatory, and it certainly does not appear to be
necessary to run a basic NetBSD installation.
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