Re: [microblaze-uclinux] [patch] memory management initialisationcleanup

[John Williams <jwilliams@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Matthew,

Matthew Rubenstein wrote:
> 	Please keep the MicroBlaze API the same as the other uCLinux distros,
> even if the implementations of some inapplicable features are null.
> Compatible is as API is, not necessarily as API does. Thanks.

You raise a good point, and I probably should have made it clearer 
earlier.  The functionality I'm developing here is all deep under the 
hood, and will remain that way.  From a user/developer's perspective, 
they will remain invisible unless they choose otherwise.

It is laying the groundwork to support functionality that is already 
available on mainstream linux archs like SMP i386, PPC and others (and 
is also standardised in the 2.6 kernel series).

Here's the most obvious use example:  As you know, on-chip BRAM access 
is several times faster than off-chip DDR - but currently it is 
impossible to inform the kernel allocator that such memory exists.  As 
it stands today, you would have to do dreadful hacks like hard-code BRAM 
address ranges into user applications - a serious no-no.  It is this 
sort of problem that will be resolved by the work I am currently doing.

I hope this addresses your concerns.

Cheers,

John
___________________________
microblaze-uclinux mailing list
microblaze-uclinux@itee.uq.edu.au
Project Home Page : http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~jwilliams/mblaze-uclinux
Mailing List Archive : http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~listarch/microblaze-uclinux/