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Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2008 09:58:47 +0100 From: Borislav Petkov <petkovbb@...glemail.com> To: <bzolnier@...il.com> Cc: linux-ide@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Borislav Petkov <petkovbb@...il.com> Subject: [PATCH 23/24] ide-tape: remove pipelined mode description from Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt Signed-off-by: Borislav Petkov <petkovbb@...il.com> --- Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt | 79 ---------------------------------------- 1 files changed, 0 insertions(+), 79 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt b/Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt index 658f271..51f596b 100644 --- a/Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt +++ b/Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt @@ -8,8 +8,6 @@ * interface, on the other hand, creates new requests, adds them * to the request-list of the block device, and waits for their completion. * - * Pipelined operation mode is now supported on both reads and writes. - * * The block device major and minor numbers are determined from the * tape's relative position in the ide interfaces, as explained in ide.c. * @@ -45,83 +43,6 @@ * * | Special care is recommended. Have Fun! * - * - * An overview of the pipelined operation mode. - * - * In the pipelined write mode, we will usually just add requests to our - * pipeline and return immediately, before we even start to service them. The - * user program will then have enough time to prepare the next request while - * we are still busy servicing previous requests. In the pipelined read mode, - * the situation is similar - we add read-ahead requests into the pipeline, - * before the user even requested them. - * - * The pipeline can be viewed as a "safety net" which will be activated when - * the system load is high and prevents the user backup program from keeping up - * with the current tape speed. At this point, the pipeline will get - * shorter and shorter but the tape will still be streaming at the same speed. - * Assuming we have enough pipeline stages, the system load will hopefully - * decrease before the pipeline is completely empty, and the backup program - * will be able to "catch up" and refill the pipeline again. - * - * When using the pipelined mode, it would be best to disable any type of - * buffering done by the user program, as ide-tape already provides all the - * benefits in the kernel, where it can be done in a more efficient way. - * As we will usually not block the user program on a request, the most - * efficient user code will then be a simple read-write-read-... cycle. - * Any additional logic will usually just slow down the backup process. - * - * Using the pipelined mode, I get a constant over 400 KBps throughput, - * which seems to be the maximum throughput supported by my tape. - * - * However, there are some downfalls: - * - * 1. We use memory (for data buffers) in proportional to the number - * of pipeline stages (each stage is about 26 KB with my tape). - * 2. In the pipelined write mode, we cheat and postpone error codes - * to the user task. In read mode, the actual tape position - * will be a bit further than the last requested block. - * - * Concerning (1): - * - * 1. We allocate stages dynamically only when we need them. When - * we don't need them, we don't consume additional memory. In - * case we can't allocate stages, we just manage without them - * (at the expense of decreased throughput) so when Linux is - * tight in memory, we will not pose additional difficulties. - * - * 2. The maximum number of stages (which is, in fact, the maximum - * amount of memory) which we allocate is limited by the compile - * time parameter IDETAPE_MAX_PIPELINE_STAGES. - * - * 3. The maximum number of stages is a controlled parameter - We - * don't start from the user defined maximum number of stages - * but from the lower IDETAPE_MIN_PIPELINE_STAGES (again, we - * will not even allocate this amount of stages if the user - * program can't handle the speed). We then implement a feedback - * loop which checks if the pipeline is empty, and if it is, we - * increase the maximum number of stages as necessary until we - * reach the optimum value which just manages to keep the tape - * busy with minimum allocated memory or until we reach - * IDETAPE_MAX_PIPELINE_STAGES. - * - * Concerning (2): - * - * In pipelined write mode, ide-tape can not return accurate error codes - * to the user program since we usually just add the request to the - * pipeline without waiting for it to be serviced. In case an error - * occurs, I will report it on the next user request. - * - * In the pipelined read mode, subsequent read requests or forward - * filemark spacing will perform correctly, as we preserve all blocks - * and filemarks which we encountered during our excess read-ahead. - * - * For accurate tape positioning and error reporting, disabling - * pipelined mode might be the best option. - * - * You can enable/disable/tune the pipelined operation mode by adjusting - * the compile time parameters below. - * - * * Possible improvements. * * 1. Support for the ATAPI overlap protocol. -- 1.5.4.1 -- 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/
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