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List:       linux-smp
Subject:    SMP Software Arch...cross platform?
From:       Russell Leighton <russ () taylor ! digex ! net>
Date:       1998-02-23 14:26:05
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First, sorry if this is FAQ or
if this is TBD...I am a kernel
hacker wannabe, I am very interested
in Linux SMP but don't have the
time right now to help...that said...

I was hoping someone could give a
short overview of the SMP software
architecture w/respect to cross platform
support. I was interested how the
locks, interrupt dispatch, etc. have
been abstracted s.t. SMP Linux can be
more easily ported...I know I could read
the sources but I was more interested
in the "high level" description and the
plans for the future.

Some questions that I am interested in:

	Are there large sections requiring significant
	changes to support SMP between platforms? 
	Can this be minimized?

	What impact do the SMP abstractions have
	on drivers for multiple platforms...it would
	be nifty if the same source for a driver would
	work on 2 platforms (e.g., a PCI video board running
	on Sparc and Intel)...possible?

	How about CC-NUMA (e.g., SGI), could this be supported
	with the current SMP design?
	Are there plans to make the current work extensible
	to such a platform (I believe there are Intel NUMA
	machines out there also) ?

Thanks for your indulgence.

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------
Russell Leighton    russ@radyn.com    russ@taylor.digex.net
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