[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]
Message-ID: <462CEB55.9070508@zytor.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 10:22:29 -0700
From: "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>
To: Jeremy Fitzhardinge <jeremy@...p.org>
CC: "Eric W. Biederman" <ebiederm@...ssion.com>,
Chuck Ebbert <cebbert@...hat.com>, Andi Kleen <ak@...e.de>,
Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
virtualization@...ts.osdl.org, lkml <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
Zachary Amsden <zach@...are.com>,
Chris Wright <chrisw@...s-sol.org>,
Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 10/28] i386: map enough initial memory to create lowmem
mappings
Jeremy Fitzhardinge wrote:
> H. Peter Anvin wrote:
>> Since we allocate the maximum possible memory statically, I fail to
>> see how holes could make the situation any worse, or better.
>
> No, we map enough space to map 4G (~4 pages), but we don't actually map
> 4G. If a hole happened to start within that 4 page mapping, then the
> memory still wouldn't be available for allocation.
>
> I think this is a bit of a spurious argument though, since if it were
> really a problem we'd have to worry about holes hitting the kernel image
> too. As far as I can see, that's not considered to be a problem.
>
> I think the real point is that there's currently a subtle dependency
> between head.S and bootmem allocation which happens between start_kernel
> and pagetable_init. Your patch preventing over-mapping should make them
> easier to smoke out as it currently stands, but eliminating the problem
> by making alloc_bootmem create the mappings for itself does have
> appeal. There would still be the dependency on head.S to map the kernel
> itself and the bootmem allocator bitmap.
>
Agreed. However, saying that your patch shouldn't go into the mainline
kernel until that has been fixed is spurious and wrong. It fixes a real
problem with minimal risk.
-hpa
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Powered by blists - more mailing lists