Re: [patch 06/11] syslets: core, documentation

From: Davide Libenzi
Date: Wed Feb 14 2007 - 12:52:47 EST


On Wed, 14 Feb 2007, Russell King wrote:

> Let me spell it out, since you appear to have completely missed my point.
>
> At the moment, SKIP_TO_NEXT_ON_STOP is specified to jump a "jump a full
> syslet_uatom number of bytes".
>
> If we end up with a system call being added which requires more than
> the currently allowed number of arguments (and it _has_ happened before)
> then either those syscalls are not accessible to syslets, or you need
> to increase the arg_ptr array.

I was thinking about this yesterday, since I honestly thought that this
whole chaining, and conditions, and parameter lists, and argoument passed
by pointers, etc... was at the end a little clumsy IMO.
Wouldn't a syslet look better like:

long syslet(void *ctx) {
struct sctx *c = ctx;

if (open(c->file, ...) == -1)
return -1;
read();
send();
blah();
...
return 0;
}

That'd be, instead of passing a chain of atoms, with the kernel
interpreting conditions, and parameter lists, etc..., we let gcc
do this stuff for us, and we pass the "clet" :) pointer to sys_async_exec,
that exec the above under the same schedule-trapped environment, but in
userspace. We setup a special userspace ad-hoc frame (ala signal), and we
trap underneath task schedule attempt in the same way we do now.
We setup the frame and when we return from sys_async_exec, we basically
enter the "clet", that will return to a ret_from_async, that will return
to userspace. Or, maybe we can support both. A simple single-syscall exec
in the way we do now, and a clet way for the ones that requires chains and
conditions. Hmmm?



- Davide


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