Removing the Big Kernel Lock

Posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday May 17, 2008 @04:13AM from the wait-i-thought-locks-made-it-secure dept.

Corrado writes "There is a big discussion going on over removing a bit of non-preemptable code from the Linux kernel. 'As some of the latency junkies on lkml already know, commit 8e3e076 in v2.6.26-rc2 removed the preemptable BKL feature and made the Big Kernel Lock a spinlock and thus turned it into non-preemptable code again. "This commit returned the BKL code to the 2.6.7 state of affairs in essence," began Ingo Molnar. He noted that this had a very negative effect on the real time kernel efforts, adding that Linux creator Linus Torvalds indicated the only acceptable way forward was to completely remove the BKL.'"

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Interesting by Anonymous Coward · 2008-05-17 05:17 · Score: 0, Flamebait

For years Linux users have bashed *BSD with the Giant Lock stating that Linux had it removed years ago. It appears that Linux still has parts of their lock still present. The point here is that you shouldn't throw stones in glass houses.

PS: I am sure I will be marked as a troll. For the record; this is a point to stop the flame wars. Yes, netcraft has confirmed the Giant Lock.