Re: Looking for comments on Bottom-Half/Tasklet/SoftIRQ

From: chuckw@ieee.org
Date: Sun Aug 19 2001 - 00:35:08 EST


Thanks.

        So, Bottom halves don't need to be re-entrant as do tasklets. SoftIRQ's
need to be re-entrant. The advantage of tasklets is that each tasklet can
be farmed out to different CPU's AND they don't need to be re-entrant
because only one instance is allowed at a time. I think I got it.

        Could you direct me to some code in the kernel which uses tasklets
so I can see the inner workings?

Thanks much,
Chuck

On Sun, Aug 19, 2001 at 06:59:22PM +0200, Anders Peter Fugmann wrote:
>
> chuckw@ieee.org wrote:
> > Greetings,
> > I was reading the unreliable guide to kernel hacking and was looking for
> > a little clarification on something. 2 Bottom halves cannot run at the same
> > time, why?
>
> Per linux definition of bottom halves, there can only run one buttom
> half at one system wide. But dont use those - They are old and waists
> resources. Try tasklets instead. Multible tasklets can run in parrallel
> (but not the same tasklet)
>
> > Also, could someone give me an example of a service which is a bottom half/
> > tasklet/SoftIRQ?
> Simple.
>
> Imagine some hardware that generates interrupts.
> Now we want to write a driver that keeps the hardware busy, so we
> implement a top half handler (IRQ-handler), and let it retrieve som data
> from the hardware. Instead of processing it right away, we shedule a
> tasklet to do that job. This way we can handle more interrupts/sec from
> the card, and the hardware is kept busy.
>
>
> To summerize.
> Buttom halves are the strictest (only one at a time.)
> Takslets can run in parralel, but still no need to worry about reentrant
> code.
> SoftIrq give no guarrentee at all, and should be used with great care
> (code need to be reentrant).
>
> Also try to readLinux device drivers by A. Rubini:
> http://www.xml.com/ldd/chapter/book/index.html
>
> Hope it helps.
> Anders Fugmann
>
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> > Chuck
> > -
> > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> > More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> > Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
> >
> >
>
>
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Aug 23 2001 - 21:00:31 EST