Messages in this thread | | | Subject | Re: [PATCH] Early memory patch, +accounting | From | (Eric W. Biederman) | Date | 01 Mar 2004 00:06:58 -0700 |
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"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com> writes:
> Eric W. Biederman wrote: > > I intend to export _end into setup.S so a bootloader can > > tell what memory the kernel will attempt to use before looking at > > the e820 map, the kernel command line, and the initrd location. > > After that the kernel can properly dynamically allocate things. > > > > You're confusing "may" with "will". This is the fundamental problem with this > approach.
If the margin of error was significant I would agree. The margin of error in this case is very small.
> > Exporting _end will allow two things. > > 1) On systems with a 15M-16M I/O hole the bootloader can check to see > > if a big kernel will attempt to use memory in that region. > > 2) On small memory systems it will let the bootloader make a good > > estimate to see if everything will fit into memory. > > No, it won't, because it still has no idea whatsoever how much dynamically > allocated memory it needs during boot.
It will at least ensure the kernel can run long enough to fail gracefully. I admit that a panic is not the most graceful failure but it does at least let you know what went wrong.
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