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D - Dernel: Using D's GC as kernel memory manager?

reply "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Robert_M._M=FCnch?=" <robert.muench robertmuench.de> writes:
Hi, I'm thinking about directly using the GC as the kernel low-level  
memory manager. I'm not sure if this works but to me the GC just looks  
like a good memory-manager. I know how much physical memory the booted  
system has, so knowing the lower- and upper-bound is no problem.

Maybe it's a good idea to setup two instances of a GC. One for the kernel  
itself and one for user-programs to link against. This is future music but  
worth thinking about it. Walter, would it be possible to have two  
instances of a GC running? IMO the compiler would need to use calls like  
gc2.XYZ.

Does the GC perform heap compaction? How does this work? Will this "only"  
merge adjacent free memory regions or will this move allocated memory to  
get bigger free chunks? The later I don't think so, how will all the  
pointer references be updated...

Of course adding virtual memory support needs to be done later. I have to  
lookup all the GDT and LDT Intel stuff for this...

Has anybody already worked thru the garbage collector code? Every piece of  
documentation, help will help me too :-))

-- 
Robert M. Münch
Management & IT Freelancer
http://www.robertmuench.de
Feb 24 2004
next sibling parent reply Andrew Edwards <remove_ridimz remove_yahoo.com> writes:
Robert M. Münch wrote:

[snip] all concerns I wouldn't know how to address!

I would like to request permission to tag along IOT learn about 
Operating System development. What would I need and what are some 
locations I can turn to for resources and guiance?

Thanks,
Andrew
Feb 24 2004
parent reply "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Robert_M._M=FCnch?=" <robert.muench robertmuench.de> writes:
On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 20:11:21 -0500, Andrew Edwards  
<remove_ridimz remove_yahoo.com> wrote:

 I would like to request permission to tag along IOT learn about  
 Operating System development.
Hi, what's IOT?
 What would I need and what are some locations I can turn to for  
 resources and guiance?
Some links are: http://www.operating-system.org http://www.osdev.org http://newos.sourceforge.net Robert
Feb 25 2004
parent Andrew <Andrew_member pathlink.com> writes:
In article <opr3xj38p9heztw6 news.digitalmars.com>,
=?iso-8859-1?Q?Robert_M._M=FCnch?= says...
On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 20:11:21 -0500, Andrew Edwards  
<remove_ridimz remove_yahoo.com> wrote:

 I would like to request permission to tag along IOT learn about  
 Operating System development.
Hi, what's IOT?
in order to
 What would I need and what are some locations I can turn to for  
 resources and guiance?
Some links are: http://www.operating-system.org http://www.osdev.org http://newos.sourceforge.net Robert
Thanks
Feb 25 2004
prev sibling parent reply "Walter" <walter digitalmars.com> writes:
"Robert M. Münch" <robert.muench robertmuench.de> wrote in message
news:opr3wddht5heztw6 news.digitalmars.com...
 Hi, I'm thinking about directly using the GC as the kernel low-level
 memory manager. I'm not sure if this works but to me the GC just looks
 like a good memory-manager. I know how much physical memory the booted
 system has, so knowing the lower- and upper-bound is no problem.

 Maybe it's a good idea to setup two instances of a GC. One for the kernel
 itself and one for user-programs to link against. This is future music but
 worth thinking about it. Walter, would it be possible to have two
 instances of a GC running? IMO the compiler would need to use calls like
 gc2.XYZ.
Two instances can run as long as they have they don't share heaps.
 Does the GC perform heap compaction?
No, but a future version might.
 How does this work? Will this "only"
 merge adjacent free memory regions or will this move allocated memory to
 get bigger free chunks? The later I don't think so, how will all the
 pointer references be updated...
A compacting gc is possible, and I've done one before. The trick is knowing when to update pointer references <g>.
 Of course adding virtual memory support needs to be done later. I have to
 lookup all the GDT and LDT Intel stuff for this...

 Has anybody already worked thru the garbage collector code? Every piece of
 documentation, help will help me too :-))
All the documentation there is is in the source <g>.
Feb 24 2004
parent "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Robert_M._M=FCnch?=" <robert.muench robertmuench.de> writes:
On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 17:11:32 -0800, Walter <walter digitalmars.com> wrote:

 Two instances can run as long as they have they don't share heaps.
Hi, well that's what I thought too ;-) The question is how to use one time GC_A and one time GC_B. My current idea is somehow to flag all kernel classes (maybe by deriving every kernel class from an empty abstract base class) so that the calls to new can find out if this is a kernel allocation or not. The implementaitons of _d_new* would handle this. An other option would be to create a custom allocator (if this is possible at all) for kenerl stuff. I prefer option 1.
 No, but a future version might.
Ok.
 A compacting gc is possible, and I've done one before. The trick is  
 knowing when to update pointer references <g>.
Walter, what would I do without such helpful hints ;-) I will postpone my efforts until we will see your version :-)
 All the documentation there is is in the source <g>.
Yes I know: The source is with you Robert. Use the source.
Feb 25 2004