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SubjectRe: You question about drivers for Linux


On 12 Jan 1999, Andi Kleen wrote:

> In article <Pine.LNX.3.96.990112104240.6865B-100000@z.ml.org>,
> linker@z.ml.org (Gregory Maxwell) writes:
> > Can someone knoweldgable please, please, go work for them? :)
>
> > All we need is a popular hardware vendor introducing shared libs into the
> > kernel :)..
>
> Shared libraries in the kernel are pointless.
>
> A shared library is a common library that can be shared between different
> address spaces. That is not needed, because the kernel has only one
> (kernel) address space.
>
> When kernel modules are loaded they can export symbols, and other kernel
> modules can use it. When the kernel wants to use functions in external
> modules it can use kmod/kerneld (with a bit of bootstrapping, the external
> module has to put the needed address into some hook which the kernel
> will call then, this is usually done with some shared structure like
> a device).
>
> So all things you would want from shared libraries are already there.

I thought sarcasm was internationally understood. :( Can someone mail me
off list with some pointers how I can avoid such a misunderstanding again
(short of actually being clear. :) ).

I ment that "I've seen windows device drivers do some very unnice things,
like call .dll's and I am worried that someone not very versed in
Linux/Unix would produce some very 'wrong' drivers".

> This is only a short term stopgap solution. For example extensions to the
> Linux source architecture (the ALSA project) will probably not well handled
> by OSS.
>
> This would only work out if the library (lib*.a not .LIB btw@) is very thin.
> Things like disabling interrupts or translating kernel addresses to bus
> addresses are all done with inline functions or macros in Linux, and the
> interface is only defined for source code portability. There is just no
> stable ABI for kernel modules.

> Also it does not address the issue of porting the drivers to other
> architectures like Sparc,Alpha,Merced,ARM.

They obviously dont care about other arches, we'll be luckey with just
x86. AFIK their product wont even work under Alpha/NT.


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