summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/microkernel/mach/continuation.mdwn
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorSamuel Thibault <samuel.thibault@ens-lyon.org>2011-01-09 23:34:42 +0100
committerSamuel Thibault <samuel.thibault@ens-lyon.org>2011-01-09 23:34:42 +0100
commitf3df65ce34153357d28bee621bdf49b61e68b182 (patch)
tree25ac416b157b010ca2f942dac5c5ba0b38a924ac /microkernel/mach/continuation.mdwn
parent09184ae09c44c052a207aa5c6dc8ce9cf61a343f (diff)
parent3bbe62327128ce85829a4cb2fb429bd8f21b4d75 (diff)
Merge branch 'master' of flubber:~hurd-web/hurd-web
Diffstat (limited to 'microkernel/mach/continuation.mdwn')
-rw-r--r--microkernel/mach/continuation.mdwn24
1 files changed, 24 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/microkernel/mach/continuation.mdwn b/microkernel/mach/continuation.mdwn
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7a3267f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/microkernel/mach/continuation.mdwn
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2010 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
+document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
+any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant
+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]]."]]"""]]
+
+[[Mach]] internally uses *continuation*s for kernel [[thread]] management.
+
+The advantage is that not a full kernel thread stack has to be preserved in
+case that a thread is about to enter a blocking state. This saves space. It
+is not clear this is still worthwhile given today's RAM offerings. (How many
+kernel threads are there, typically?)
+
+And, this would no longer be possible in case Mach were be made a
+[[preemptive|preemtion]] kernel. In the latter case, the kernel itself, that
+is, kernel threads can be preempted, and then their full state needs to be
+preserved.
+
+[[!tag open_issue_documentation]] <!-- Not linked to from any Mach page. Move
+to GNU Mach pages, as this is only an implementation detail? -->