Help in setting up a RAM Disk

[Gedare Bloom]

On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 11:26 PM, Chris Johns <chrisj at rtems.org> wrote:
> On 5/03/11 7:52 AM, Robert S. Grimes wrote:
>>
>> I have many megabytes of RAM, and want to set aside a large portion for
>> use as a RAM disk. I've looked about a bit on the message list, and
>> couldn't find the answers I need, and some info I did found seemed
>> contradictory - that, and I suspect things have changed a bit in the
>> last 4 years anyway!
>>
>>  From what I've read, it seems I don't really want to use just the IMFS,
>> as it uses the C heap; I'd like to keep the disk ram usage separate from
>> my app's heap, out of concern for fragmentation. Looking at
>> http://www.rtems.org/wiki/index.php/File_Systems, I think I have figured
>> out the basics, but then come my questions:
>>
>> 1. It seems I want to use RFS, is that correct? How do I configure it?
>> (I could not find the configuration documentation).
>
> The RFS is just one file system. There is also DOSFS. The RFS does not
> suffer from the issues DOSFS does.
>
>>
>> 2. RFS then needs a block device, specifically the RAM Disk, right? How
>> do I configure that?
>>
>
> The RFS test code here:
>
>
> http://www.rtems.org/ftp/pub/rtems/people/chrisj/file-system/rfs-20100603.tar.gz
>
> is a complete working example with a RAM and flash disk. The disk set up is
> in main.c.
>
> The RAM can be configured with:
>
> #include <rtems.h>
> #include <rtems/bdbuf.h>
> #include <rtems/blkdev.h>
> #include <rtems/diskdevs.h>
> #include <rtems/error.h>
> #include <rtems/fsmount.h>
> #include <rtems/ramdisk.h>
> #include <rtems/shell.h>
>
> /**
>
>
>  * The RAM Disk configuration.
>  */
> rtems_ramdisk_config rtems_ramdisk_configuration[] =
> {
>  {
>    block_size: 512,
>    block_num:  1984 * 2,
>    location:   NULL
>  }
> };
>
> /**
>  * The number of RAM Disk configurations.
>  */
> size_t rtems_ramdisk_configuration_size = 1;
>
> /**
>  * Create the RAM Disk Driver entry.
>  */
> rtems_driver_address_table rtems_ramdisk_io_ops = {
>  initialization_entry: ramdisk_initialize,
>  open_entry:           rtems_blkdev_generic_open,
>  close_entry:          rtems_blkdev_generic_close,
>  read_entry:           rtems_blkdev_generic_read,
>  write_entry:          rtems_blkdev_generic_write,
>  control_entry:        rtems_blkdev_generic_ioctl
> };
>
> int
> setup_ramdisk (void)
> {
>  rtems_device_major_number major;
>  rtems_status_code         sc;
>
>  /*
>   * Register the RAM Disk driver.
>   */
>  printf ("Register RAM Disk Driver: ");
>  sc = rtems_io_register_driver (RTEMS_DRIVER_AUTO_MAJOR,
>                                 &rtems_ramdisk_io_ops,
>                                 &major);
>  if (sc != RTEMS_SUCCESSFUL)
>  {
>    printf ("error: ramdisk driver not initialised: %s\n",
>            rtems_status_text (sc));
>    return 1;
>  }
>
>  printf ("successful\n");
>
>  return 0;
> }
>
> In the test application in the link above I handle the formatting and
> mounting using an RTEMS shell script. Look in shell-init. There is a mount
> call which is simple to use. Check the main_mount.c file in the shell for an
> example.
>
>> 3. Is the Block Device Cache required in this setup, and if so, how is
>> that configured?
>>
>
> Yes the block device cache is needed. You do not need to create a big cache
> if you have a RAM disk operating.
>
>> 4. Is there a way to pre-populate the filesystem with a set of files? In
>> other words, is there a reasonable way to bind a "disk image" into the
>> final output of my build process, such that when my app is loaded and
>> begins execution, it can mount this filesystem and use the files it
>> finds there?
>
> I am not sure if this relates to the RAM or if this is a separate disk. I
> think there is a TARFS but I have not used it. There is also the flash disk
> driver that is a block driver. You can use this with the same flash device
> as you boot with. The RFS test application has a configuration for the
> mcf5235 board.
>
We do this with a ram fs. Check this thread:
http://www.rtems.org/pipermail/rtems-users/2010-March/006682.html

We've loaded application data like this, including Lua scripts. (
http://home.gwu.edu/~cssmith/LuaRtems/index.html )

>> What I'm looking for is a nice "how-to". Given that our project team
>> will have several RTEMS-based systems in it, and I'm the first one out
>> the gate, I'll become a local resource for the others. Therefore, I'll
>> be putting together one for our use here, and will post it to the RTEMS
>> wiki for others to use too.
>
> Great.
>
> Chris
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