linux-kernel - Re: atomic RAM ?

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Message-ID: <4BBDA742.9010507@lumino.de>
Date:	Thu, 08 Apr 2010 11:52:02 +0200
From:	Michael Schnell <mschnell@...ino.de>
To:	David Newall <davidn@...idnewall.com>,
	linux-kernel <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: atomic RAM ?

On 04/08/2010 11:28 AM, David Newall wrote:
> Will the system use multiple cores?  If it's only single core, perhaps
> atomic operations are really necessary?
At the moment I am just planning a single core NIOS project. But SMP is
a decent option for NIOS, as it is no hardware problem - and often has
been requested - to design multiple CPUs in a single in such an FPGA and
run SMP Linux on it.

OTOH, to do FUTEX in full (MMU) - Linux, atomic operations are
definitively necessary, as in Userland you can't disable the interrupt
without a Kernel call (which to avoid FUTEX is all about.) Currently the
plan with the NIOS (MMU, non-SMP) arch is to simulate atomic operations
with the said "atomic region" (as is done with e.g. the BlackFin arch).

(BTW.: when enumerating the ways how atomic macros are done I forgot to
mention the "new ARM" method: dedicated "load locked, store conditional"
operations that help simulating atomic behavior in user space without
the Kernel's help.)

-Michael
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