On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 04:49:28PM +0200, Matthias Drochner wrote: > > Christoph_Egger%gmx.de@localhost said: > > How about making paddr_t always 64bit? That makes it much easier to > > deal with in libkvm. > > I don't think this is a good argument. The little gain of making > a rarely used library like libkvm simpler can't justify adding > overhead to the kernel. libkvm is hardly an issue. Kernel modules, on the other hand... > PAE is a "bridge technology", interesting only for few systems. > Users of low-end i386 systems would be penalized, and most users > of boxes with >4G memory would gain nothing because they run > a 64-bit system anyway. > So, imho, no kernel overhead is acceptable. Well, that's one opinion. My own, probably just as humble, is that such a gaping ABI incompatibility is completely unacceptable, especially after all the work that has been done to make some kernel subsystems a little bit more responsible regarding ABI. I'm really curious to see some actual measurements about that alleged overhead. The way I see it right now, we have a known lethal ABI incompatibility versus an alleged overhead of unknown size. -- Quentin Garnier - cube%cubidou.net@localhost - cube%NetBSD.org@localhost "See the look on my face from staying too long in one place [...] every time the morning breaks I know I'm closer to falling" KT Tunstall, Saving My Face, Drastic Fantastic, 2007.
Attachment:
pgpVNuzs9frQC.pgp
Description: PGP signature