. only reference single pages in process data structures
to simplify page faults, copy-on-write, etc.
. this breaks the secondary cache for objects that are
not one-page-sized; restored in a next commit
This commit removes all traces of Minix segments (the text/data/stack
memory map abstraction in the kernel) and significance of Intel segments
(hardware segments like CS, DS that add offsets to all addressing before
page table translation). This ultimately simplifies the memory layout
and addressing and makes the same layout possible on non-Intel
architectures.
There are only two types of addresses in the world now: virtual
and physical; even the kernel and processes have the same virtual
address space. Kernel and user processes can be distinguished at a
glance as processes won't use 0xF0000000 and above.
No static pre-allocated memory sizes exist any more.
Changes to booting:
. The pre_init.c leaves the kernel and modules exactly as
they were left by the bootloader in physical memory
. The kernel starts running using physical addressing,
loaded at a fixed location given in its linker script by the
bootloader. All code and data in this phase are linked to
this fixed low location.
. It makes a bootstrap pagetable to map itself to a
fixed high location (also in linker script) and jumps to
the high address. All code and data then use this high addressing.
. All code/data symbols linked at the low addresses is prefixed by
an objcopy step with __k_unpaged_*, so that that code cannot
reference highly-linked symbols (which aren't valid yet) or vice
versa (symbols that aren't valid any more).
. The two addressing modes are separated in the linker script by
collecting the unpaged_*.o objects and linking them with low
addresses, and linking the rest high. Some objects are linked
twice, once low and once high.
. The bootstrap phase passes a lot of information (e.g. free memory
list, physical location of the modules, etc.) using the kinfo
struct.
. After this bootstrap the low-linked part is freed.
. The kernel maps in VM into the bootstrap page table so that VM can
begin executing. Its first job is to make page tables for all other
boot processes. So VM runs before RS, and RS gets a fully dynamic,
VM-managed address space. VM gets its privilege info from RS as usual
but that happens after RS starts running.
. Both the kernel loading VM and VM organizing boot processes happen
using the libexec logic. This removes the last reason for VM to
still know much about exec() and vm/exec.c is gone.
Further Implementation:
. All segments are based at 0 and have a 4 GB limit.
. The kernel is mapped in at the top of the virtual address
space so as not to constrain the user processes.
. Processes do not use segments from the LDT at all; there are
no segments in the LDT any more, so no LLDT is needed.
. The Minix segments T/D/S are gone and so none of the
user-space or in-kernel copy functions use them. The copy
functions use a process endpoint of NONE to realize it's
a physical address, virtual otherwise.
. The umap call only makes sense to translate a virtual address
to a physical address now.
. Segments-related calls like newmap and alloc_segments are gone.
. All segments-related translation in VM is gone (vir2map etc).
. Initialization in VM is simpler as no moving around is necessary.
. VM and all other boot processes can be linked wherever they wish
and will be mapped in at the right location by the kernel and VM
respectively.
Other changes:
. The multiboot code is less special: it does not use mb_print
for its diagnostics any more but uses printf() as normal, saving
the output into the diagnostics buffer, only printing to the
screen using the direct print functions if a panic() occurs.
. The multiboot code uses the flexible 'free memory map list'
style to receive the list of free memory if available.
. The kernel determines the memory layout of the processes to
a degree: it tells VM where the kernel starts and ends and
where the kernel wants the top of the process to be. VM then
uses this entire range, i.e. the stack is right at the top,
and mmap()ped bits of memory are placed below that downwards,
and the break grows upwards.
Other Consequences:
. Every process gets its own page table as address spaces
can't be separated any more by segments.
. As all segments are 0-based, there is no distinction between
virtual and linear addresses, nor between userspace and
kernel addresses.
. Less work is done when context switching, leading to a net
performance increase. (8% faster on my machine for 'make servers'.)
. The layout and configuration of the GDT makes sysenter and syscall
possible.
. make exec() callers (i.e. vfs and rs) determine the
memory layout by explicitly reserving regions using
mmap() calls on behalf of the exec()ing process,
i.e. handling all of the exec logic, thereby eliminating
all special exec() knowledge from VM.
. the new procedure is: clear the exec()ing process
first, then call third-party mmap()s to reserve memory, then
copy the executable file section contents in, all using callbacks
tailored to the caller's way of starting an executable
. i.e. no more explicit EXEC_NEWMEM-style calls in PM or VM
as with rigid 2-section arguments
. this naturally allows generalizing exec() by simply loading
all ELF sections
. drop/merge of lots of duplicate exec() code into libexec
. not copying the code sections to vfs and into the executable
again is a measurable performance improvement (about 3.3% faster
for 'make' in src/servers/)
these two functions will be used to support all exec() functionality
going into a single library shared by RS and VFS and exec() knowledge
leaving VM.
. third-party mmap: allow certain processes (VFS, RS) to
do mmap() on behalf of another process
. PROCCTL: used to free and clear a process' address space
use the user-supplied point to lookup which region to perform brk() on,
and if it's a reasonable one, do it, no matter what vm's notion of the
heap region is.
. ipc wants to know about processes that get
signals, so that it can break blocking ipc operations
. doing it for every single signal is wasteful
and causes the annoying 'no slot for signals' message
. this fix tells vm on a per-process basis it (ipc)
wants to be notified, i.e. only when it does any ipc calls
. move ipc config to separate config file while we're at it
- regions were preivous stored in a linked list, as 'normally'
there are just 2 or 3 (text, data, stack), but that's slow
if lots of regions are made with mmap()
- measurable performance improvement with gcc and clang
- RTS_VMINHIBIT flag is used to stop process while VM is fiddling with
its pagetables
- more generic way of sending synchronous scheduling events among cpus
- do the x-cpu smp sched calls only if the target process is runnable.
If it is not, it cannot be running and it cannot become runnable
this CPU holds the BKL
A new call to vm lets processes yield a part of their memory to vm,
together with an id, getting newly allocated memory in return. vm is
allowed to forget about it if it runs out of memory. processes can ask
for it back using the same id. (These two operations are normally
combined in a single call.)
It can be used as a as-big-as-memory-will-allow block cache for
filesystems, which is how mfs now uses it.
RS CHANGES:
- Crash recovery is now implemented like live update. Two instances are kept
side by side and the dead version is live updated into the new one. The endpoint
doesn't change and the failure is not exposed (by default) to other system
services.
- The new instance can be created reactively (when a crash is detected) or
proactively. In the latter case, RS can be instructed to keep a replica of
the system service to perform a hot swap when the service fails. The flag
SF_USE_REPL is set in that case.
- The new flag SF_USE_REPL is supported for services in the boot image and
dynamically started services through the RS interface (i.e. -p option in the
service utility).
- Fixed a free unallocated memory bug for core system services.
this patch changes the way pagefaults are delivered to VM. It adopts
the same model as the out-of-quantum messages sent by kernel to a
scheduler.
- everytime a userspace pagefault occurs, kernel creates a message
which is sent to VM on behalf of the faulting process
- the process is blocked on delivery to VM in the standard IPC code
instead of waiting in a spacial in-kernel queue (stack) and is not
runnable until VM tell kernel that the pagefault is resolved and is
free to clear the RTS_PAGEFAULT flag.
- VM does not need call kernel and poll the pagefault information
which saves many (1/2?) calls and kernel calls that return "no more
data"
- VM notification by kernel does not need to use signals
- each entry in proc table is by 12 bytes smaller (~3k save)
map_copy_ph_block is replaced by map_clone_ph_block, which can
replace a single physical block by multiple physical blocks.
also,
. merge map_mem.c with region.c, as they manipulate the same
data structures
. NOTRUNNABLE removed as sanity check
. use direct functions for ALLOC_MEM and FREE_MEM again
. add some checks to shared memory mapping code
. fix for data structure integrity when using shared memory
. fix sanity checks
UPDATING INFO:
20100317:
/usr/src/etc/system.conf updated to ignore default kernel calls: copy
it (or merge it) to /etc/system.conf.
The hello driver (/dev/hello) added to the distribution:
# cd /usr/src/commands/scripts && make clean install
# cd /dev && MAKEDEV hello
KERNEL CHANGES:
- Generic signal handling support. The kernel no longer assumes PM as a signal
manager for every process. The signal manager of a given process can now be
specified in its privilege slot. When a signal has to be delivered, the kernel
performs the lookup and forwards the signal to the appropriate signal manager.
PM is the default signal manager for user processes, RS is the default signal
manager for system processes. To enable ptrace()ing for system processes, it
is sufficient to change the default signal manager to PM. This will temporarily
disable crash recovery, though.
- sys_exit() is now split into sys_exit() (i.e. exit() for system processes,
which generates a self-termination signal), and sys_clear() (i.e. used by PM
to ask the kernel to clear a process slot when a process exits).
- Added a new kernel call (i.e. sys_update()) to swap two process slots and
implement live update.
PM CHANGES:
- Posix signal handling is no longer allowed for system processes. System
signals are split into two fixed categories: termination and non-termination
signals. When a non-termination signaled is processed, PM transforms the signal
into an IPC message and delivers the message to the system process. When a
termination signal is processed, PM terminates the process.
- PM no longer assumes itself as the signal manager for system processes. It now
makes sure that every system signal goes through the kernel before being
actually processes. The kernel will then dispatch the signal to the appropriate
signal manager which may or may not be PM.
SYSLIB CHANGES:
- Simplified SEF init and LU callbacks.
- Added additional predefined SEF callbacks to debug crash recovery and
live update.
- Fixed a temporary ack in the SEF init protocol. SEF init reply is now
completely synchronous.
- Added SEF signal event type to provide a uniform interface for system
processes to deal with signals. A sef_cb_signal_handler() callback is
available for system processes to handle every received signal. A
sef_cb_signal_manager() callback is used by signal managers to process
system signals on behalf of the kernel.
- Fixed a few bugs with memory mapping and DS.
VM CHANGES:
- Page faults and memory requests coming from the kernel are now implemented
using signals.
- Added a new VM call to swap two process slots and implement live update.
- The call is used by RS at update time and in turn invokes the kernel call
sys_update().
RS CHANGES:
- RS has been reworked with a better functional decomposition.
- Better kernel call masks. com.h now defines the set of very basic kernel calls
every system service is allowed to use. This makes system.conf simpler and
easier to maintain. In addition, this guarantees a higher level of isolation
for system libraries that use one or more kernel calls internally (e.g. printf).
- RS is the default signal manager for system processes. By default, RS
intercepts every signal delivered to every system process. This makes crash
recovery possible before bringing PM and friends in the loop.
- RS now supports fast rollback when something goes wrong while initializing
the new version during a live update.
- Live update is now implemented by keeping the two versions side-by-side and
swapping the process slots when the old version is ready to update.
- Crash recovery is now implemented by keeping the two versions side-by-side
and cleaning up the old version only when the recovery process is complete.
DS CHANGES:
- Fixed a bug when the process doing ds_publish() or ds_delete() is not known
by DS.
- Fixed the completely broken support for strings. String publishing is now
implemented in the system library and simply wraps publishing of memory ranges.
Ideally, we should adopt a similar approach for other data types as well.
- Test suite fixed.
DRIVER CHANGES:
- The hello driver has been added to the Minix distribution to demonstrate basic
live update and crash recovery functionalities.
- Other drivers have been adapted to conform the new SEF interface.
Main changes:
- COW optimization for safecopy.
- safemap, a grant-based interface for sharing memory regions between processes.
- Integration with safemap and complete rework of DS, supporting new data types
natively (labels, memory ranges, memory mapped ranges).
- For further information:
http://wiki.minix3.org/en/SummerOfCode2009/MemoryGrants
Additional changes not included in the original Wu's branch:
- Fixed unhandled case in VM when using COW optimization for safecopy in case
of a block that has already been shared as SMAP.
- Better interface and naming scheme for sys_saferevmap and ds_retrieve_map
calls.
- Better input checking in syslib: check for page alignment when creating
memory mapping grants.
- DS notifies subscribers when an entry is deleted.
- Documented the behavior of indirect grants in case of memory mapping.
- Test suite in /usr/src/test/safeperf|safecopy|safemap|ds/* reworked
and extended.
- Minor fixes and general cleanup.
- TO-DO: Grant ids should be generated and managed the way endpoints are to make
sure grant slots are never misreused.
- clean up kernel section of minix/com.h somewhat
- remove ALLOCMEM and VM_ALLOCMEM calls
- remove non-safecopy and minix-vmd support from Inet
- remove SYS_VIRVCOPY and SYS_PHYSVCOPY calls
- remove obsolete segment encoding in SYS_SAFECOPY*
- remove DEVCTL call, svrctl(FSDEVUNMAP), map_driverX
- remove declarations of unimplemented svrctl requests
- remove everything related to swapping to disk
- remove floppysetup.sh
- remove traces of rescue device
- update DESCRIBE.sh with new devices
- some other small changes
shared with the kernel, mapped into kernel address space;
kernel is notified of its location. kernel segment size is
increased to make it fit.
- map in kernel and other processes that don't have their
own page table using single 4MB (global) mapping.
- new sanity check facility: objects that are allocated with
the slab allocator are, when running with sanity checking on,
marked readonly until they are explicitly unlocked using the USE()
macro.
- another sanity check facility: collect all uses of memory and
see if they don't overlap with (a) eachother and (b) free memory
- own munmap() and munmap_text() functions.
- exec() recovers from out-of-memory conditions properly now; this
solves some weird exec() behaviour
- chew off memory from the same side of the chunk as where we
start scanning, solving some memory fragmentation issues
- use avl trees for freelist and phys_ranges in regions
- implement most useful part of munmap()
- remap() stuff is GQ's for shared memory
read/write writable in the pagetable right away instead of waiting for
a pagefault. minor optimization.
some a sanity check of SLAB-allocated pointers.
vm gets its own _exit and __exit like PM, so the stock (library) panic works.
their own fully fledged virtual address space and freeing
their pre-allocated heap+stack area (necessary to let memory
driver map in arbitrary areas of memory for /dev/mem without
sys_vm_map)
- small optimization preallocating memory on exec
- finished VR_DIRECT physical mapping code
