Re: [PATCH 0/2][concept RFC] x86: BIOS-save kernel log to disk upon panic

["H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>]

On 01/25/2011 07:08 AM, Tejun Heo wrote:
> 
> There are holes but writing to them without full knowledge of the
> configuration can be quite dangerous.  I don't think it would be
> possible to mass deploy it without manual configuration unless we
> specifically reserve (and maybe mark) it in the filesystem.
> 

Reserve and mark in the filesystem is relatively straightforward, except
for btrfs, which doesn't have support for reserved extents.  This is a
bit of a shortcoming in btrfs.

>> All in one, a very intriguing idea IMO, and the hardest bits
>> (lowlevel x86 transition) is all implemented already.

Lowlevel x86 transition is not at all the hardest part.  It's
detail-oriented but well defined (and, I might add, incompletely
implemented -- 64 bits only, not using facilities we already have); the
*hard* part, and I mean harder by orders of magnitude, is to get the
BIOS to behave sanely without an intervening reboot, *AND* not trash
your data, ever.

	-hpa

-- 
H. Peter Anvin, Intel Open Source Technology Center
I work for Intel.  I don't speak on their behalf.