From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Thu, 6 Sep 2001 09:53:19 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Thu, 6 Sep 2001 09:53:09 -0400 Received: from mail2.aracnet.com ([216.99.193.35]:9480 "EHLO mail2.aracnet.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Thu, 6 Sep 2001 09:53:02 -0400 From: "M. Edward Borasky" To: Subject: RE: page_launder() on 2.4.9/10 issue Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 06:54:14 -0700 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2911.0) In-Reply-To: <592148204.999786238@[10.132.112.53]> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Importance: Normal Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org I'm relatively new to the Linux kernel world and even newer to the list, so forgive me if I'm asking a silly question or making a silly comment. It seems to me, from what I've seen of this discussion so far, that the only way one "tunes" Linux kernels at the moment is by changing code and rebuilding the kernel. That is, there are few "tunables" that one can set, based on one's circumstances, to optimize kernel performance for a specific application or environment. Every other operating system that I've done performance tuning on, starting with Xerox CP-V in 1974, had such tunables and tools to set them. And quite often, some of the tuning parameters can be set "on the fly", simply by knowing the correct memory location to set and poking a new value into it. No one "memory management scheme", for example, can be all things to all tasks, and it seems to me that giving users tools to measure and control the behavior of memory management, *preferably without having to recompile and reboot*, should be a major priority if Linux is to succeed in a wide variety of applications. OK, I'll get off my soapbox now, and ask a related question. Is there a mathematical model of the Linux kernel somewhere that I could get my hands on? -- M. Edward (Ed) Borasky, Chief Scientist, Borasky Research http://www.borasky-research.net http://www.aracnet.com/~znmeb mailto:znmeb@borasky-research.com mailto:znmeb@aracnet.com Stand-Up Comedy: Because Man Does Not Live By Dread Alone