Re: [PATCH] WTF is VLI?

From: Hugh Dickins
Date: Mon Nov 15 2004 - 16:22:39 EST


On Fri, 12 Nov 2004, Horst von Brand wrote:
> Dave Jones <davej@xxxxxxxxxx> said:
> > On Thu, Nov 11, 2004 at 09:05:11PM +0000, Hugh Dickins wrote:
> > > What is this "VLI" that 2.6.9 started putting after the taint string
> > > in i386 oopses? Vick Library Index? Vineyard Leadership Institute?
> >
> > "Variable length instructions". I think newer ksymoops looks
> > for this tag and does something magical when doing disassembly.
>
> Huh? Either an architecture has them (i386) or doesn't (RISCs).
> Or am I seriously misunderstanding here?

I share your surprise, it does seem rather odd. I think what it's
really trying to do is distinguish how 2.6.9 starts the "Code:" bytes
at eip - 43, where 2.6.8 started at eip; but flag that since it's VLI
then it's got a bit of guessing to do. I'd have preferred to work it
out from i386 and the new "<%02x>" around the eip byte itself, rather
than stick a "VLI" somewhere else; but let's not interfere now it's so.

Hugh

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/