From owner-freebsd-platforms Sat Nov 30 01:17:02 1996 Return-Path: owner-platforms Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id BAA01856 for platforms-outgoing; Sat, 30 Nov 1996 01:17:02 -0800 (PST) Received: from genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au [129.127.96.120]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id BAA01851; Sat, 30 Nov 1996 01:16:57 -0800 (PST) Received: (from msmith@localhost) by genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (8.8.2/8.7.3) id TAA25734; Sat, 30 Nov 1996 19:46:39 +1030 (CST) From: Michael Smith Message-Id: <199611300916.TAA25734@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> Subject: Re: FreeBSD/MIPS anybody In-Reply-To: <199611300612.BAA09955@dyson.iquest.net> from "John S. Dyson" at "Nov 30, 96 01:12:36 am" To: toor@dyson.iquest.net (John S. Dyson) Date: Sat, 30 Nov 1996 19:46:38 +1030 (CST) Cc: msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au, imp@village.org, platforms@FreeBSD.org, dyson@FreeBSD.org X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL28 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-platforms@FreeBSD.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk John S. Dyson stands accused of saying: > > > > What strikes me as the biggest real problem is the highly > > x86-optimised VM, and along with that perhaps the blurring of MI/MD > > code in the FreeBSD kernel. > > > The FreeBSD VM code uses the SAME assumptions as the original > Lite & Lite/2 code except we have removed some broken-ness like > pagemove :-). I hope that those concerns about machine dependence > are not due to disinformation from others. There might > have to be some mods and enhancements to do a port to a given > architecture, but the end result will be vastly superior to the > original Lite & Lite/2 code that others are currently using. I'm not sure whether it's disinformation, or just lack of more accurate information 8) Still, you'd have to admit that the pmap module is big and dark and scary to your average hacker 8( > When working on the VM code, one has to understand it... Otherwise This is an understatement of the first order 8) and the problem that I was trying to get at; there's a significant body of processor-dependant code tied to the VM required for any port, and for FreeBSD, this code is sufficiently different I couldn't, for example, take a pmap/locore from an old BSD port to the Sony NEWS and use it (even modulo hardware changes) on my Mipsco boxes for FreeBSD. Of course, if I'm wrong and it's actually totally trivial, then I'll just go sit in the corner and cry 8) Any chance of a pmap(9) manpage detailing its features and requirements? 8) > John -- ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@gsoft.com.au [[ ]] Genesis Software genesis@gsoft.com.au [[ ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 0411-222-496 [[ ]] realtime instrument control. (ph) +61-8-8267-3493 [[ ]] Unix hardware collector. "Where are your PEZ?" The Tick [[