Re: [PATCH 00/05] robust per_cpu allocation for modules

Paul Mackerras
2006-04-16T07:02:19Z

Steven Rostedt writes:

> So now I'm asking for advice on some ideas that can be a work around to
> keep the robustness and speed.

Ideally, what I'd like to do on powerpc is to dedicate one register to
storing a per-cpu base address or offset, and be able to resolve the
offset at link time, so that per-cpu variable accesses just become a
register + offset memory access. (For modules, "link time" would be
module load time.)

We *might* be able to use some of the infrastructure that was put into
gcc and binutils to support TLS (thread local storage) to achieve
this. (See http://people.redhat.com/drepper/tls.pdf for some of the
details of that.)

Also, I've added Rusty Russell to the cc list, since he designed the
per-cpu variable stuff in the first place, and would be able to
explain the trade-offs that led to the PERCPU_ENOUGH_ROOM thing. (I
think you're discovering them as you go, though. :)

Paul.