Hi Linus,
how would you feel about having the block device layer 64-bit
capable, so Linux can have block devices of more than 2GB in
size ?
I know that 64-bit arithmetic is expensive on 32-bit platforms,
but I have the idea there is a way around that for people who
don't want 64-bit capable block devices.
1. use blkoff_t for all block number arithmetic
2. in some header file, have
#ifdef CONFIG_BLKDEV_64BIT
typedef long long blkoff_t
#else
typedef long blkoff_t
#endif
This way, people running smaller&slower machines can chose to
do the cheaper 32-bit arithmetic and only the people using huge
block devices will have to do the 64-bit arithmetic.
(yes, basically the same trick as we're using for PAE)
regards,
Rik
--
Linux MM bugzilla: http://linux-mm.org/bugzilla.shtml
Virtual memory is like a game you can't win;
However, without VM there's truly nothing to lose...
http://www.surriel.com/
http://www.conectiva.com/ http://distro.conectiva.com/
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
