From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Tue, 18 Sep 2001 20:09:51 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Tue, 18 Sep 2001 20:09:32 -0400 Received: from barry.mail.mindspring.net ([207.69.200.25]:23100 "EHLO barry.mail.mindspring.net") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Tue, 18 Sep 2001 20:09:12 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] (Updated) Preemptible Kernel From: Robert Love To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Evolution/0.13.99+cvs.2001.09.18.07.08 (Preview Release) Date: 18 Sep 2001 20:10:39 -0400 Message-Id: <1000858241.832.16.camel@phantasy> Mime-Version: 1.0 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org This patch enables a preemptible kernel - now userspace programs can be preempted, even if in kernel land. This should result in greater system response. Updated patches are available at: http://tech9.net/rml/linux/patch-rml-2.4.9-ac12-preempt-kernel-1 and http://tech9.net/rml/linux/patch-rml-2.4.10-pre11-preempt-kernel-1 for 2.4.9-ac12 and 2.4.10-pre11, respectively. ChangeLog is at http://tech9.net/rml/linux/changelog-preempt The Athlon-optimized problem is fixed and a final solution is merged. We have had reported success with XFS, although a patch is required to compile, available at http://tech9.net/rml/linux/other/patch-rml-2.4.10-pre10-xfs-preempt-fix-1 Finally, I have gotten great feedback from SMP users -- both in that "it works" and that benchmarks show an improvement. Thus, SMP and preemption together are no longer marked experimental. The only outstanding issue is a possible issue with ReiserFS, although I am beginning to think this is attributed to VM muck and not ReiserFS. If you use ReiserFS, I would appreciate some feedback. (Note that the issue is _not_ fs corruption or anything of the ilk, just odd syslog messages and the such). Please continue to supply feedback and relevant benchmarks. I really encourage "regular" users to try this out -- patch your kernel and enable CONFIG_PREEMPT. I am not an audio guy, trust me -- this is worth it for any desktop. -- Robert M. Love rml at ufl.edu rml at tech9.net