Interested in GSoC 2017 Project: Memory Protection.

Abhimanyu Rawat h2015081 at pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in
Wed Mar 29 21:27:42 UTC 2017


Hello Dr. Bloom and other folks,

I have developed an initial draft of my application, kindly review it. I
can be more verbose in explaining the granular details regarding the
concepts and approaches, so kindly tell me how and where I can amend the
proposal.

On Sat, Mar 25, 2017 at 12:15 PM, Hesham Almatary <heshamelmatary at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Sat, Mar 25, 2017 at 6:07 AM, Gedare Bloom <gedare at rtems.org> wrote:
>
>> Work on shaping your proposal document and start to plan the work you
>> would do during the summer. This is the best way for me to collaborate is
>> if you begin writing out your ideas in sufficient detail that I can
>> understand and provide feedback based on where you are at.
>>
> +1
>
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 24, 2017 at 11:26 AM, Abhimanyu Rawat <
>> h2015081 at pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello Dr. Bloom,
>>>
>>> I have contacted to the past contributors,  Peter and I will discuss
>>> PowerPC and further support, next week, in the meantime, I am going through
>>> PowerPC code and how I can build with the existing system a new bsp code
>>> for MMU/MPU support. I will complete my application next week.
>>>
>>> In the meantime, any suggestions from your side are most welcome.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 8:57 PM, Gedare Bloom <gedare at rtems.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 11:13 AM, Abhimanyu Rawat <
>>>> h2015081 at pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Indeed, PowerPC code is somewhat developed, would you recommend if
>>>>> there are some specific features in PowerPC that I should revisit? As this
>>>>> is little confusing as some work has been done on exception handler, page
>>>>> tables, cache already, so what should I target next and what to modify
>>>>> first? Past developer of the PowerPC support might help if you would
>>>>> connect me to?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>> I've CC'd some of the folks who previously worked on this topic. So
>>>> perhaps they have input for you.
>>>>
>>>> I think the important thing is that when we design a framework that it
>>>> is flexible enough to accommodate the many varieties of memory management
>>>> hardware.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> *Closing with thank you and warm Regards,*
>>>>>
>>>>> *Abhimanyu Rawat*
>>>>> *M.E. Computer Science, *
>>>>> *CS/IS Department, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus*
>>>>> *Email - h2015081 at pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in
>>>>> <h2015081 at pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in> / abhimanyurawat at yahoo.com
>>>>> <abhimanyurawat at yahoo.com>*
>>>>> *Phone. 08930399302 (call/Whatsapp), 09466899302*
>>>>>
>>>>>  ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 8:29 PM, Gedare Bloom <gedare at rtems.org>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 10:07 AM, Abhimanyu Rawat <
>>>>>> h2015081 at pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 7:17 PM, Gedare Bloom <gedare at rtems.org>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Please prefer to try to keep general GSoC / RTEMS project
>>>>>>>> discussions on the mailing list. Direct e-mail is ok but inefficient in
>>>>>>>> many cases and should only be preferred for communciations of a personal or
>>>>>>>> private matter.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 5:33 AM, Abhimanyu Rawat <
>>>>>>>> h2015081 at pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 9:25 PM, Gedare Bloom <gedare at rtems.org>
>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> On Thu, Mar 16, 2017 at 1:05 PM, Abhimanyu Rawat <
>>>>>>>>>> h2015081 at pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Hello Dr. Bloom,
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Sorry for writing after a big gap( was busy with a product
>>>>>>>>>>> integration), although I found time to go through the pointers you put
>>>>>>>>>>> together for me, thanks they were really helpful in getting an idea about
>>>>>>>>>>> the project and how to process everything in time.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Gaps are normal and acceptable (until you are getting paid for
>>>>>>>>>> work :)). You should also expect to have gaps in responses from developers
>>>>>>>>>> on the mailing list, since we are also generally volunteering.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I noticed that all the existing work on MMU is not moving very
>>>>>>>>>>> fast like other supporting components for RTEMS, last year too no one was
>>>>>>>>>>> selected to do MMU project #2904. I know only one guy applied but the
>>>>>>>>>>> proposal was not quite promising. But trust me, all that doesn't make it
>>>>>>>>>>> any less desirable for me to take it. Now, I have a few questions:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I would not recommend judging the priority/value of a proposed
>>>>>>>>>> project based on whether or not it was done in the past. Definitely discuss
>>>>>>>>>> with mentors, etc. This project area is a good, long-term investment for
>>>>>>>>>> RTEMS, but it does move slowly.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 1:51 AM, Gedare Bloom <gedare at rtems.org>
>>>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 2:14 PM, Abhimanyu Rawat <
>>>>>>>>>>>> h2015081 at pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hello folks,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> I am Abhimanyu Rawat, a Computer Science Masters degree
>>>>>>>>>>>>> student from BITS Pilani Campus, India. I found Memory Protection project
>>>>>>>>>>>>> #2904 <https://devel.rtems.org/ticket/2904> very interesting
>>>>>>>>>>>>> and vital for the the RTEMS. Among the lots of projects listed on the ideas
>>>>>>>>>>>>> page, Memory Protection draws me to RTEMS as it's a very challenging
>>>>>>>>>>>>> project and I would thoroughly enjoy working on it. I am a really
>>>>>>>>>>>>> enthusiastic person who would like to contribute to the project. I have
>>>>>>>>>>>>> previous experience in C, C++ and Python etc.  At present I am an intern at
>>>>>>>>>>>>> EMC ^2 where I am working on DataDomain Operating system, building
>>>>>>>>>>>>> configuration tool for the latest DDOS software update. I have also lead a
>>>>>>>>>>>>> BITS-Stanford inter-university project, where my team worked on Django
>>>>>>>>>>>>> based project with an inbuilt authorization tool + chat application etc. I
>>>>>>>>>>>>> usually help my friends with their projects as well.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> When does your internship complete, and when does your school
>>>>>>>>>>>> year begin again?
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> As required, I went through the initial brief about the
>>>>>>>>>>>>> project and I think it would be a valuable addition to RTEMS. Also, I have
>>>>>>>>>>>>> completed the https://devel.rtems.org/wiki/GSoC/GettingStarted, and
>>>>>>>>>>>>> configured and Built RTEMS for SPARC/erc32. Subsequently, I have the
>>>>>>>>>>>>> snapshot of the terminal showing my name and the GSOC text as pictured
>>>>>>>>>>>>> here
>>>>>>>>>>>>> <https://devel.rtems.org/attachment/wiki/GSoC/GettingStarted/SPARC-SIS-HelloWorld-Modded.png>.
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kindly tell me how  selectively pointed towto send the proof of the
>>>>>>>>>>>>> terminal and the diff file as required.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Send to me by email is fine.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> It would be great if you can give me some pointers about the
>>>>>>>>>>>>> structure of the project and the direction I should pursue.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Have a look at the current approach taken to provide low-level
>>>>>>>>>>>> support for the MMUs in the ARM bsps. You can find this looking in the
>>>>>>>>>>>> source tree via c/src/lib/libbsp/arm/* with most of the relevant parts in
>>>>>>>>>>>> the shared subdirectory there, where each BSP defines a table of
>>>>>>>>>>>> statically-configured MMU initialization.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> You selectively pointed towards the c/src/lib/libbsp/arm/*
>>>>>>>>>>> shared subdirectory where some BSP's has low level code for MMU
>>>>>>>>>>> configuration, I found ome cache code too. And trying digging deep to build
>>>>>>>>>>> a common understanding of different BSP MMU code. The code initally is
>>>>>>>>>>> quite hard to understand but as a unit what task is taking place is I can
>>>>>>>>>>> understand like, data cache and line cleaing etc. Therefore I would request
>>>>>>>>>>> you to provide me a documented code review or process guide( if
>>>>>>>>>>> available) so that I can develop something to test the MMU code
>>>>>>>>>>> changes/patches, otherwise I will have to brute force the search. As from
>>>>>>>>>>> this point I want to move fast and reflect the my progress.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I recommend that you start by writing a blog post about your
>>>>>>>>>> understanding of what is implemented there. Look in the other BSPs to see
>>>>>>>>>> what, if any, MMU code they have.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Sure, setting up a medium blog to write about the bsp underlying
>>>>>>>>> code  related to memory related operations.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Cache cleaning/invalidating is often tied with MMU state changes.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> This is where the prior work has pretty much left off. Remaining
>>>>>>>>>>>> items in this project area include:
>>>>>>>>>>>> * Making a uniform approach to MMU/MPU setup across
>>>>>>>>>>>> architectures
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> It seems nice to have a low level design which can point out the
>>>>>>>>>>> mutual modules such as initialising the registers, stack and memory lines
>>>>>>>>>>> etc. For this I think underying functionality have to be completed first or
>>>>>>>>>>> complete the remaining pieces in existing code and then move bottom up.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> The underlying functionality exists for at least cp15-based ARM.
>>>>>>>>>> Providing the functionality for another BSP family would be a good place to
>>>>>>>>>> start.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> * Supporting dynamic changes to MMU/MPU configurations
>>>>>>>>>>>> * Leveraging dynamic MMU/MPU enforcement to create a mid-level
>>>>>>>>>>>> memory management layers. Various proposals have been designed and
>>>>>>>>>>>> implemented in the past that can be studied.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> When you say dynamic changes, it means application level memory
>>>>>>>>>>> proection, space quota management etc. ? I know you should be having a full
>>>>>>>>>>> list, so l am willing to hear all that and then decide which work should be
>>>>>>>>>>> done first and how I propose to do it.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Dynamic here means the MMU entries can be changed at run-time
>>>>>>>>>> after initialization. This is a building block for implementing
>>>>>>>>>> higher-level services such as application-level memory protection and
>>>>>>>>>> kernel-level APIs for memory management.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> * Creating generally useful memory protection schemes such as
>>>>>>>>>>>> per-task stack protection that can be enabled by applications with simple
>>>>>>>>>>>> "switch it on" type of logic.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> * Creating an application-layer interface for memory protection
>>>>>>>>>>>> management at a finer granularity / with more application-level logic to
>>>>>>>>>>>> control than the "generally useful" approaches would need.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Ok this is exciting stuff that can be pushed first, the memory
>>>>>>>>>>> block or segement(or whatever you say to a chunk but mostly I went through
>>>>>>>>>>> thesis material online which denotes it as in different terms/name ) access
>>>>>>>>>>> related control can be hacked together to provide the enclaved type of
>>>>>>>>>>> execution for the application task. We can discuss more about it and how
>>>>>>>>>>> much existing code base so far support this proposed project area.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I prefer memory region to refer to a generic "Base+Offset"
>>>>>>>>>> contiguous area of memory. We have discussed terminology quite often in the
>>>>>>>>>> past. Reach out to Hesham to get some more details.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> We can't do application-level memory protection without a good
>>>>>>>>>> understanding of the intermediate layers. We can start to design an API,
>>>>>>>>>> but the API is not mergeable until there is a generic layer that is not
>>>>>>>>>> tightly bound to the BSP or even CPU layers.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> In case of arm-cp15  it's underlying fucntionality are far more
>>>>>>>>> developed(i.e. initialization, interrupt handling, underlying tlb update
>>>>>>>>> after fage faults etc.) than the rest of the bsp's, so I think we can start
>>>>>>>>> to design an API for application-level memory protection. This way we can
>>>>>>>>> have atleast one fully functional bsp for arm-cp 15, whose prototype can we
>>>>>>>>> can later use to speed up the development  You think it can be a good
>>>>>>>>> proposal or shall I go with other bsp underlying support first?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I'm concerned that any mid-level/high-level framework built on top
>>>>>>>> of the existing low-level support for arm-cp15 will be too rigid to work
>>>>>>>> with less feature-ful BSPs/MMU/MPU combinations. It would be good to have
>>>>>>>> another one or two kinds of MMU/MPU supported so that the upper layers can
>>>>>>>> be more thoughtfully designed.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>  I agree with your approach of having more than one type of bsp's
>>>>>>> with MMU/MPU support, so which one should I take on ? I mean I can work on
>>>>>>> AT91RM9200 of ARM family, or you would suggest other archiitecture
>>>>>>> like(PowerPC) ?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> PowerPC should be good. That was one of the targets worked on
>>>>>> previously, so it should not be too difficult.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I look forward, to hear what is your take on them, and last but not
>>>>>>>>>>> the least, thanks for the warm reply, it already makes me feel home with
>>>>>>>>>>> the community.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Overall, I look forward to working with the community and
>>>>>>>>>>>>> improving my skills by actively contributing to the project(in long run
>>>>>>>>>>>>> also).
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> *Closing with thank you and warm Regards,*
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> *Abhimanyu Rawat*
>>>>>>>>>>>>> *M.E. Computer Science, *
>>>>>>>>>>>>> *CS/IS Department, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus*
>>>>>>>>>>>>> *Email - h2015081 at pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in
>>>>>>>>>>>>> <h2015081 at pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in> / abhimanyurawat at yahoo.com
>>>>>>>>>>>>> <abhimanyurawat at yahoo.com>*
>>>>>>>>>>>>> *Phone. 08930399302 (call/Whatsapp), 09466899302*
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>  ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>>>>>> devel mailing list
>>>>>>>>>>>>> devel at rtems.org
>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://lists.rtems.org/mailman/listinfo/devel
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Hesham
>
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