Re: malloc/free/realloc will be renamed in the kernel

["Simon 'corecode' Schubert" <corecode@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Matthew Dillon wrote:
> :Matt, I really think this is no good idea.  I don't understand why you ar=
> :e trying to link the kernel with libc in the first place anyways.  The re=
> :al kernel doesn't need libc, so why should the userland kernel need it?  =
> :What I see what's needed are three usermode kernel drivers:  a console dr=
> :iver, a usermode network interface driver and a signal handler.  I don't =
> :see anywhere that libc is really needed.
> :
> :Additionally, renaming malloc et all in the whole kernel just seems a big=
> :, possibly even error-prone change, where it can be accomplished much mor=
> :e easy and elegant with a linker script.
>
>     I thought it might be a bigger job then it actually was.  It turned
>     out to be trivial.  Sure there are going to be a few hicups, but nothing
>     that I would consider a big deal.

I see, the changes before seemed more complicated.

>     Well, if we don't link it against libc then developing pseudo devices
>     that interact with the real system would require considerably more
>     infrastructure.  I kinda prefer having libc around so I can just write
>     that code as I would any application.
>
>     Lets consider the types of devices we want to support in the virtual
>     kernel.  These devices must communicate with the real world:
>
>     * Console      	      - Just use stdin and stdout
>     * 'External' Serial ports - Just use a couple of the real kernel's PTYs
>     * Disk		      - open/lseek/read/write/close
>     * Memory		      - mmap( ... MAP_ANON)
>     * Network		      - Just use the real kernel's TUN interfaces.
> 				It would even be possible to using the new
> 				bridging code to put a virtual kernel directly
> 				on the real system's LAN.
>     
>     Writing those devices should be a matter of a day or two on each one
>     with libc available.  It will be so easy that I'm not even concerned
>     about them.

looking at those tasks, we don't need any "special" libc support:  syscalls don't require libc.  stuff like malloc(3), strlen(3), gethostbyaddr(3), db*(3), all this stuff is not needed by a kernel.

cheers
 simon

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