SMP for pc686 BSP

[Jan.Sommer at dlr.de]

Hello,

I have been working recently to enable SMP for the pc686-BSP and managed to get a basic setup running with 2 cores which currently passes 44/57 smptests.
Next step is to make it work for arbitrary numbers of cores. The goal is to push the patches upstream. That's why I would like to ask the more experienced x86-gurus what would be the preferred direction for some questions.

1. If I understand it correctly the start16.S is only compiled for SMP configurations since bin2boot has been removed.
Would you be ok, if I create a "startAP.S" from it, i.e. remove the ifdef SMP_SECONDARY_CORE and the A20 gate enabling (is done by the BSP) to have a minimal ASM-file to bring up an AP?

2. According to the Intel MultiProcessor Specification the LAPIC IDs do not have to be consecutive
Thus, in smp-imps.h the "imps_cpu_apic_map" is created. It is populated at the beginning, but all other code uses the LAPIC ID for processor identification.
Are non-consecutive processor numbers only a theoretical issue, or do they appear in real life as well?
Should I change the code to use the map or keep using the the LAPIC ID?

3. In the current setup the AP has its own global descriptor table located in start16.S, but because TLS uses the GS segment and writes to it during context switches, it will create problems with multiple APs.
One idea would be to create a dedicated GDT for each AP and copy the GDT of the BSP before starting each AP. For that I could
a) define an array of GDTs, but the problem is the dimension as CONFIGURE_MAXIUM_PROCESSORS is not known when compiling the RTEMS libraries.
b) add it in the Per_CPU_Control structure to the cpu_per_cpu field.
c) let the BSP allocate memory for each AP's GDT using malloc
or d) I could update the existing GDT in ldsegs.S to have additional GS segments for each processor core. Question is again how many sections I should put there (255?) and if that would create problems for the user segments (haven't checked yet where they are used).

Any other ideas, remarks or hints for possible pitfalls are also greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

   Jan


Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR)
German Aerospace Center
Simulation and Software Technology | Software for Space Systems and Interactive Visualization | Lilienthalplatz 7 | 38108 Braunschweig | Germany

Jan Sommer
Telephone +49 531 295-2494 | Telefax 0531 295-2767 | jan.sommer at dlr.de
DLR.de/SC