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authorAkinori Ito <aito@eie.yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp>2001-11-15 00:32:13 +0000
committerAkinori Ito <aito@eie.yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp>2001-11-15 00:32:13 +0000
commit85da7ee692072c643939e9f4b24fbd1e74e64e70 (patch)
tree9fc63298cf968fa560a9e3cf9b6c84516032fca8 /gc/doc/README.linux
parentUpdates from 0.2.1 into 0.2.1-inu-1.5 (diff)
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Update to w3m-0.2.1-inu-1.6.
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+See README.alpha for Linux on DEC AXP info.
+
+This file applies mostly to Linux/Intel IA32. Ports to Linux on an M68K
+and PowerPC are also integrated. They should behave similarly, except that
+the PowerPC port lacks incremental GC support, and it is unknown to what
+extent the Linux threads code is functional. See below for M68K specific
+notes.
+
+Incremental GC is supported on Intel IA32 and M68K.
+
+Dynamic libraries are supported on an ELF system. A static executable
+should be linked with the gcc option "-Wl,-defsym,_DYNAMIC=0".
+
+The collector appears to work with Linux threads. We have seen
+intermittent hangs in sem_wait. So far we have been unable to reproduce
+these unless the process was being debugged or traced. Thus it's
+possible that the only real issue is that the debugger loses
+signals on rare occasions.
+
+The garbage collector uses SIGPWR and SIGXCPU if it is used with
+Linux threads. These should not be touched by the client program.
+
+To use threads, you need to abide by the following requirements:
+
+1) You need to use LinuxThreads (which are included in libc6).
+
+ The collector relies on some implementation details of the LinuxThreads
+ package. It is unlikely that this code will work on other
+ pthread implementations (in particular it will *not* work with
+ MIT pthreads).
+
+2) You must compile the collector with -DGC_LINUX_THREADS and -D_REENTRANT
+ specified in the Makefile.
+
+3a) Every file that makes thread calls should define GC_LINUX_THREADS and
+ _REENTRANT and then include gc.h. Gc.h redefines some of the
+ pthread primitives as macros which also provide the collector with
+ information it requires.
+
+3b) A new alternative to (3a) is to build the collector and compile GC clients
+ with -DGC_USE_LD_WRAP, and to link the final program with
+
+ (for ld) --wrap read --wrap dlopen --wrap pthread_create \
+ --wrap pthread_join --wrap pthread_detach \
+ --wrap pthread_sigmask --wrap sleep
+
+ (for gcc) -Wl,--wrap -Wl,read -Wl,--wrap -Wl,dlopen -Wl,--wrap \
+ -Wl,pthread_create -Wl,--wrap -Wl,pthread_join -Wl,--wrap \
+ -Wl,pthread_detach -Wl,--wrap -Wl,pthread_sigmask \
+ -Wl,--wrap -Wl,sleep
+
+ In any case, _REENTRANT should be defined during compilation.
+
+4) Dlopen() disables collection during its execution. (It can't run
+ concurrently with the collector, since the collector looks at its
+ data structures. It can't acquire the allocator lock, since arbitrary
+ user startup code may run as part of dlopen().) Under unusual
+ conditions, this may cause unexpected heap growth.
+
+5) The combination of GC_LINUX_THREADS, REDIRECT_MALLOC, and incremental
+ collection fails in seemingly random places. This hasn't been tracked
+ down yet, but is perhaps not completely astonishing. The thread package
+ uses malloc, and thus can presumably get SIGSEGVs while inside the
+ package. There is no real guarantee that signals are handled properly
+ at that point.
+
+6) Thread local storage may not be viewed as part of the root set by the
+ collector. This probably depends on the linuxthreads version. For the
+ time being, any collectable memory referenced by thread local storage should
+ also be referenced from elsewhere, or be allocated as uncollectable.
+ (This is really a bug that should be fixed somehow.)
+
+
+M68K LINUX:
+(From Richard Zidlicky)
+The bad news is that it can crash every linux-m68k kernel on a 68040,
+so an additional test is needed somewhere on startup. I have meanwhile
+patches to correct the problem in 68040 buserror handler but it is not
+yet in any standard kernel.
+
+Here is a simple test program to detect whether the kernel has the
+problem. It could be run as a separate check in configure or tested
+upon startup. If it fails (return !0) than mprotect can't be used
+on that system.
+
+/*
+ * test for bug that may crash 68040 based Linux
+ */
+
+#include <sys/mman.h>
+#include <signal.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+
+char *membase;
+int pagesize=4096;
+int pageshift=12;
+int x_taken=0;
+
+int sighandler(int sig)
+{
+ mprotect(membase,pagesize,PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE);
+ x_taken=1;
+}
+
+main()
+{
+ long l;
+
+ signal(SIGSEGV,sighandler);
+ l=(long)mmap(NULL,pagesize,PROT_READ,MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANON,-1,0);
+ if (l==-1)
+ {
+ perror("mmap/malloc");
+ abort();
+ }
+ membase=(char*)l;
+ *(long*)(membase+sizeof(long))=123456789;
+ if (*(long*)(membase+sizeof(long)) != 123456789 )
+ {
+ fprintf(stderr,"writeback failed !\n");
+ exit(1);
+ }
+ if (!x_taken)
+ {
+ fprintf(stderr,"exception not taken !\n");
+ exit(1);
+ }
+ fprintf(stderr,"vmtest Ok\n");
+ exit(0);
+}
+
+