Re: 4level page tables for Linux II

[Jörn Engel]

On Thu, 14 October 2004 18:55:20 -0700, Andrew Grover wrote:
> On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 18:57:24 +0200, Matthias Urlichs
> > Disagree. Rather strongly in fact.
> > 
> > It's probably OK if you already know the stuff and have been hacking
> > Linux' mm for years already, but if you try to learn how things work by
> > actually looking at the code..?
> > 
> > Just number them. Let pd1 point to pages, pd2 to pd1 entries, and so on.
> > (Level zero is the actual pages.)
> 
> I happen to agree, but surely this can be addressed at our leisure,
> after pml4 is in.
> 
> Maybe a good task for the kernel janitors, if we all agree more
> sensible names are desirable.

Please don't.  Current names may be odd, but at least they are
sufficiently different from one another.  4 names that only differ in
a single number are an invitation for typos, thinkos and similar
confusion.

Whenever I notice a mess like that in any piece of software I change
it to make the difference bigger, not smaller.  Have you ever been
slightly distracted, kept typing anyway and it compiled just fine,
creating a subtle bug? ;)

Jörn

-- 
When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty.  I think
only how to solve the problem.  But when I have finished, if the
solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.
-- R. Buckminster Fuller
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