FreeLists / openbeosnetteam / [openbeosnetteam] Re: PPP, libnet, and why inside the kernel?

["Nathan Whitehorn" <nathan.whitehorn@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> There will be a degree of network functionality going into the 
> kernel. IMHO
> that's where it belongs due to the hooks it needs to be truly 
> efficient.
> The /dev/net/stack will be going away when we move to kernel land 
> proper. As
> for not knowing anything about sockets, what is a socket from the 
> kernel
> pov? It's just another "window" into the kernel in the same way that 
> calling
> open on a file is. Upgrading socket really isn't a concern, nor most 
> of the
> other stuff that will end up in kernel. Look at the dates on some of 
> the
> files and you'll find the main "non patch" changes were made in the
> early-mid 90's for most of them.

And it is exactly the same as a device open.

> There will also be kernel modules for everything else. Where the line 
> gets
> drawn is still open to some debate.
> 
> Nathan: As I'm getting tired of typing - PPC isn't an essential or 
> even
> desired piece of OpenBeOS R1, so support isn't there. Sad but true 
> and not
> something I am really in a rush to change. As for not opening a lot 
> of
> sockets, try opening BeBits using Net+. It opens a lot of sockets in 
> very
> quick succession (like 20+) and the writes/selects/reads from them. 
> I've
> also said if you want to work on the project then there is a lot you 
> can do
> without needing physical access to a machine, but as you don't want 
> to do
> this...

The main speed slowdown is *not* in making two kernel trips (besides, 
can't we use open flags instead of an ioctl()?). If you can show me a 
net stack where this made any difference whatsoever, my hat is off to 
you. As for PPC support- I want this to work on my machine. For all I 
care, all the people who say it isn't essential can go to hell: I'll do 
it myself, and I am. For those who say it isn't desired, well, I don't 
feel the words I would use to describe people with such short-sighted 
viewpoints would be appropriate for this forum.

> Just to repeat something that hasn't come up for a while, this 
> project is to
> get a the best stack we can for OpenBeOS using the new kernel. If we 
> can add
> support for R5 then fine, but it's not even on my list of priorities. 
> The
> reason it's been so debated is that I've been using R5 as my 
> development
> platform - nothing else.

Which is exactly the reason for building on ppc r5. Unfortunately, you 
don't seem to understand this...
-Nathan

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