Re: [SLE] Repository for kernel 2.6.17?

On Tue, 2006-09-12 at 00:04 -0800, John Andersen wrote:
On Monday 11 September 2006 23:54, Roger Oberholtzer wrote:
I heard rumors a bit back that the kernel guys finally found the reason
the kernel needed special compiling for smp vs. non-smp. Some dumb
programming error that had been in the kernel for eons. The correction
resulted in one kernel working on both smp and non-smp processors. So,
maybe the rumor was true?

I spoze its possible, but effectively using two processors (or cores) requires
a lot more than compile option.
Seems more likely, that with so many machines able to at least pretend to
have two processors (hyper-threading), and since the penalty for running smp
with only one processor actually working is small, it might just be that they
decided the single processor kernel was no longer warranted.

Except that in earlier releases of the kernel, the SMP version often did
not run on a non-SMP machine. Not a matter of different performance.
More a matter of it just not running. There have been code improvements
in the kernel of late that are allowing us to skip having two compiled
versions. At least this is what I have been hearing. I don't run such an
exotic thing yet.

--
Roger Oberholtzer

OPQ Systems AB
Ramböll Sverige AB
Kapellgränd 7
P.O. Box 4205
SE-102 65 Stockholm, Sweden

Tel: Int +46 8-615 60 20
Fax: Int +46 8-31 42 23


--
Check the headers for your unsubscription address
For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@xxxxxxxx
Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com
Please read the FAQs: suse-linux-e-faq@xxxxxxxx

Relevant Pages

  • 2.6.12-rc5-mm2 bug report
    ... stable smp machine has gone a little less stable after I installed some more ... Reiser4 demanded the use of -mm branch of kernel. ... Jun 4 19:32:26 router vmunix: PREEMPT SMP ... # Performance-monitoring counters support ...
    (Linux-Kernel)
  • Re: [GIT PATCH] ACPI patches for 2.6.25-rc0 (#2)
    ... ACPI: add newline to printk ... SMP ... Kernel panic - not syncing: ... # Infrared-port device drivers ...
    (Linux-Kernel)
  • Re: [FreeBSD 5.3 STABLE/RC2] SMP crashes
    ... While compiling ATLAS library and working with some other applications, ... With SMP disabled, the box was now stable for over 7 days, also under heavy load. ... > I was in good luck taking the panic kernel report. ... > resetting SCSI bus! ...
    (comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc)
  • Re: panic: sorele
    ... I only have squid in my machine and although I have 1 cpu. ... I didnt try to compile kernel without SMP but I will try ... # To include support for VESA video modes ...
    (freebsd-current)
  • Re: FBSD 5.3-BETA4 SMP crashes
    ... This kernel with the most recent ... cvsupdate (did the last cvsupdate relevant to compiling in the morning ... to SMP kernel. ...
    (comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc)