Re: klibc (was: 2.6.18 -mm merge plans)

H. Peter Anvin
2006-06-04T23:04:48Z

Andrew Morton wrote:
>
> git-klibc.patch
>
> Similar. This all appears to work sufficiently well for a 2.6.18 merge.
> But it's been so long since klibc was a hot topic that I've forgotten who
> wanted it, and what for.
>
> Can whoever has an interest in this work please pipe up and let's get our
> direction sorted out quickly.
>

klibc (early userspace) in its current form is fundamentally a cleanup.
What it does is unload code from the kernel which has no fundamental
reason to be kernel code (written during kernel rules, with all the
problems it entails.) The initial code to have removed is the
root-mounting code, with all the various ugly mutations of that (ramdisk
loading, NFS root, initrd...)

The original idea was due Al Viro; obviously, the implementation is
mostly mine.

It is of course my hope that this will be used for more than just plain
initialization code, but that in itself is a significant step, and one
has to start somewhere.

Part of the reason it has taken as long is it has is just to try to make
it as drop-in as at all possible.

-hpa