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Re: idle threads , kernel threads

On Thu, 28 Feb 2002 sridhar@ufl.edu wrote:

> I was reading Tigran's 2.4 kernel docs about SMP boot up. I am interested in
> knowing the diff between an kernel thread and idle thread.what exactly is an
> idle thread? y do the APs need to have an idle thread associated with them? also
> please explain a bit about  trampoline.s
> I am not subscribed , so email me.

an idle thread is exactly that, a thread which gets executed when the 
processor is idle. Whilst a kernel thread is a "process" running in  
kernel (read priveleged) context, check out the 
linux/drivers/net/8139too.c to see a network driver which uses kernel 
threads.

To fully understand trampoline.S you'll have to read the Intel 
Multiprocessor Specification 1.x. In a nutshell it is code which the APs 
execute in order to get initialised and ready to run kernel code.

Regards,
	Zwane


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