Subject: Re: Floating point in the kernel
To: Ken Nakata <kenn@synap.ne.jp>
From: David Brownlee <abs@anim.dreamworks.com>
List: tech-kern
Date: 09/18/1998 17:52:14
On Sat, 19 Sep 1998, Ken Nakata wrote:

> On Fri, 18 Sep 1998 15:42:04 -0700 (PDT), David Brownlee wrote:
> > 	I could be missing something here, but since nothing currently in
> > 	the kernel uses FPU, and all we have to preserve is user data
> > 	in FPU registers then if you are not using them in an interrupt
> > 	context, you can just save and restore around each use of the
> > 	registers?
> 
> Even if so, it does not scale *at all*.  So, in Linux or even FreeBSD,
> maybe, but I wouldn't want an ugly hack like this in NetBSD!
> 
	If its in an LKM for a DSP chip then I dont see a real problem
	a) It doesn't need to scale - just work for that DSP chip.
	b) It doesn't impact any other part of the kernel source.

> Isn't it exactly the kind of things NetBSD has been avoiding?  "Well,
> it works _for me_" kind of hacks?
> 
	Welcome agaon to conflicting goals :) - its a solution that
	should work while not impacting anyone else, and keeping the
	main tree 'clean'. A clean method of better integrating it would
	obviously be preferrable, but this is one 'solution' (or so).

> Oh, I wouldn't mind if someone made such a thing publically available
> as an unofficial patch, provided that its users knew what they were
> doing.  But, no, please not in the CVS tree.
> 
> 


		David/absolute

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