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authorantrik <antrik@users.sf.net>2011-03-25 00:07:28 +0100
committerantrik <antrik@users.sf.net>2011-03-25 23:32:18 +0100
commit8ee6975b7c1c0557d21ca966c24ea09806104498 (patch)
treec70c3fe4e62a41e1883aa5b81da20e07bfdc33c2 /community/gsoc
parent0729272db4fe4563fee46488236d75e9c4700eee (diff)
gsoc/ideas/driver_glue_code: Update and add back
As zhengda seems MIA, this task is up for takers again. Update the text to reflect the fact that zhengda already did a lot of the DDE work. (Actually, the text is almost entirely rewritten...) Probably this should be split into several distinct tasks for the various aspects that need work.
Diffstat (limited to 'community/gsoc')
-rw-r--r--community/gsoc/project_ideas.mdwn1
-rw-r--r--community/gsoc/project_ideas/driver_glue_code.mdwn84
2 files changed, 54 insertions, 31 deletions
diff --git a/community/gsoc/project_ideas.mdwn b/community/gsoc/project_ideas.mdwn
index 8d31ed7f..b4b60dd6 100644
--- a/community/gsoc/project_ideas.mdwn
+++ b/community/gsoc/project_ideas.mdwn
@@ -107,3 +107,4 @@ See also the list of [Hurd-related X.org project ideas](http://wiki.x.org/wiki/H
[[!inline pages="community/gsoc/project_ideas/libcap" show=0 feeds=no actions=yes]]
[[!inline pages="community/gsoc/project_ideas/xattr" show=0 feeds=no actions=yes]]
[[!inline pages="community/gsoc/project_ideas/valgrind" show=0 feeds=no actions=yes]]
+[[!inline pages="community/gsoc/project_ideas/driver_glue_code" show=0 feeds=no actions=yes]]
diff --git a/community/gsoc/project_ideas/driver_glue_code.mdwn b/community/gsoc/project_ideas/driver_glue_code.mdwn
index 9c063e9f..65ea4f0f 100644
--- a/community/gsoc/project_ideas/driver_glue_code.mdwn
+++ b/community/gsoc/project_ideas/driver_glue_code.mdwn
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2008, 2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation,
-Inc."]]
+[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc."]]
[[!meta license="""[[!toggle id="license" text="GFDL 1.2+"]][[!toggleable
id="license" text="Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
@@ -9,41 +8,64 @@ Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license
is included in the section entitled
[[GNU Free Documentation License|/fdl]]."]]"""]]
-[[!meta title="New Driver Glue Code"]]
+[[!meta title="New Driver Framework"]]
-Although a driver framework in user space would be desirable, presently the Hurd
-uses kernel drivers in the microkernel,
-[[GNU_Mach|microkernel/mach/gnumach]]. (And changing this would be far beyond a
-GSoC project...)
-
-The problem is that the drivers in GNU Mach are presently old Linux drivers
-(mostly from 2.0.x) accessed through a glue code layer. This is not an ideal
-solution, but works quite OK, except that the drivers are very old. The goal of
-this project is to redo the glue code, so we can use drivers from current Linux
-versions, or from one of the free BSD variants.
-
-While it would be certainly possible to create custom glue code again, a more
-sustainable and probably also easier approach is to use
-[[DDE]] instead -- it already
-does the hard work of providing an environment where the foreign drivers can
-run, and has the additional advantage of being externally maintained.
-
-This is a doable, but pretty involved project. Previous experience with driver
-programming probably is a must. (No Hurd-specific knowledge is required,
-though.)
+The Hurd presently uses hardware drivers
+implemented in the microkernel, [[GNU_Mach|microkernel/mach/gnumach]].
+These drivers are old Linux drivers (mostly from 2.0.x)
+accessed through a glue code layer.
+This is not an ideal solution, but works quite OK,
+except that the drivers are extremely old by now.
+Thus we need a new framework,
+so we can use drivers from current Linux versions instead,
+or perhaps from one of the free BSD variants.
This is [[!GNU_Savannah_task 5488]].
[[open issues/user-space device drivers]].
[[open issues/device drivers and io systems]].
+The most promising approach for getting newer drivers seems to be [[DDE]]:
+it already does the hard work of providing an environment
+where the foreign drivers can run,
+and offers the additional benefit of being externally maintained.
+DDE also offers the necessary facilities
+for running all drivers in separate userspace processes,
+which is more desirable than drivers running in the microkernel.
-Possible mentors: Samuel Thibault (youpi)
+[[Zheng Da|zhengda]] has already done considerable work on this.
+The basic framework for using DDE in the Hurd is present,
+and network card drivers are already working very well.
+However, this work isn't fully integrated in the Hurd yet.
+The additional kernel interfaces that were created for this
+are still prototypes, and will need to be reworked.
+Also, there is no build system for automatically compiling
+all Linux network card drivers in one go.
+
+Other types of drivers are missing so far.
+Support for IDE drivers has been partially implemented,
+but isn't fully working yet.
+To fully replace the old in-kernel drivers,
+further infrastructure will be necessary
+to make userspace disk drivers usable for the root filesystem.
-Exercise: Take a driver for some newer piece of hardware (e.g. Intel e1000
-ethernet) from a recent system, and try to port it to run in the existing
-driver framework in GNU Mach. Completing the port might be too involved for the
-exercise; but it's pretty likely that you will find something else to improve
-in the glue code while working on this...
+Some other subsystems are missing or incomplete in DDE itself,
+and will require additional work that is not specific to the Hurd implementation.
+
+The goal of this task is to fix at least one of the mentioned major shortcomings:
+rework the kernel interfaces;
+provide a streamlined build system for the drivers;
+finish IDE support;
+or implement support for some other subsystem.
+<!-- should probably provide separate task descriptions for each... -->
+
+This is a doable, but pretty involved project.
+Previous experience with driver programming probably is a must.
+To be able to work on the framework,
+the student will also have to get a good understanding of certain aspects of Hurd,
+such as memory management for example.
+
+Possible mentors: Samuel Thibault (youpi)
-*Status*: [[Zheng Da|zhengda]] is working on DDE, and has mostly completed the
-initial port.
+Exercise: Get one of the not yet integrated Linux network card drivers to work.
+(Note: This should be straightforward,
+once you have the framework properly built and set up...)