[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Swapping in 2.1.103?
[CC:d to linux-mm because of the TODO list and because Jim
is generally suggesting to team up with us :) ]
On Thu, 21 May 1998, Jim Wilcoxson wrote:
> Hi Rik - I've been running Linux a few years now, but have only been on the
> mailing list a few days and am not familiar with Linux internals. I think
> it's a great OS though, and would love to contribute. I'd like to spend a
> few days reviewing the current file system/paging algorithms and doing some
> tests on my machine to make sure I understand before spouting off
> suggestions. Is it reasonable to review to 2.0.33 code, or should I look
> at the 2.1.x stuff?
It depends. If you're mainly looking at the 'high-level'
pageout daemon and the mmap() stuff, 2.0.33 will be fine.
The low-level stuff (swapcache, locking, etc) have changed
considerable, and are much more 'interesting' in 2.1.x...
Also, the 2.1 kernel is more interesting because any changes
you make have a larger probability of being saved for
future generations :)
We have several things in the TODO list currently:
- reverse pte lookup -- being done by sct and blah
- true swapping -- I have the designs next to me, NYI
- out-of-memory process killing -- you can download the bulk
of the code from my homepage
- swapin clustering -- I have some random thoughts, but NYI
- a zone allocator, instead of the current buddy allocator
-- I have the design, but NYI
- some minor kswapd fixes -- we know what to fix, just not
how, and it's minor anyway...
- prepaging -- I have some ideas on how to do this, no
solid design and NYI
In short, the Linux VM system is nice & fast, but
far from perfect. I think there are still several
man-years to be invested and we can always welcome
a new person to the scene.
There's also a mailing list:
linux-mm@blah.kvack.org (majordomo@blah.kvack.org)
Rik.
+-------------------------------------------+--------------------------+
| Linux: - LinuxHQ MM-patches page | Scouting webmaster |
| - kswapd ask-him & complain-to guy | Vries cubscout leader |
| http://www.phys.uu.nl/~riel/ | <H.H.vanRiel@phys.uu.nl> |
+-------------------------------------------+--------------------------+