IA-64 XFree86 (was: XFree 4.0.1 module loading)
Quoted 14 lines · Stuart Anderson
Quoted 11 lines · Marc Aurele La France
Quoted 9 lines · Keith Owens
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I guess my question now is: Should the
dlopen()loader be able to resolve inter-module dependencies? If not, what is left to be done with the elf loader make it functional on IA64?Support for the ELF64 relocation types. Just like a block of code was added for Alpha support, the same type of thing will have to be added for IA64.
modutils 2.3.13 has IA64 relocation support, courtesy of Mike Stephens at Intel.
obj/obj_ia64.cshould be a reasonable starting point.
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Is anyone going ahead with this? If not, I can probably come pretty close to getting it working even though I'd be going in blind (no hardware).
Let me know.
I've received some code, and should have hardware soon, so I was planning on working on it.
ATI is funding me to go to their labs near Toronto from 2000.09.13 to 2000.09.22 and work on IA-64 support. This despite that they are aware Michael Madore has both the ATI and R128 drivers working reasonably well. I see this as a measure of how important they feel IA-64 support this. I agree with them. And so, my goal with this "outing" will be to bring XFree86's IA-64 server up to as close to an "out-of-the-box" condition as I can, using what we currently provide on IA-32 as a benchmark.
So that I don't end up duplicating effort and/or working in the dark, I'd like us to coordinate our efforts.
First, I ask David Dawes or Keith Packard to set up an XFree86-internal mailing list, say [email protected]. At this point, I don't think this list should be public. Its initial membership would be
Stuart Anderson <[email protected]>
David Dawes <[email protected]>
Dirk Hohndel <[email protected]>
Marc Aurele La France <[email protected]>
Michael Madore <[email protected]>
Bill Nottingham <[email protected]>
Keith Owens <[email protected]>
Michael Smith <[email protected]>
Mark Vojkovich <[email protected]>
... and anyone else willing to participate.
Second, I propose we use XFree86's CVS repository as a common code base. I'd like to check in all the work that has been done so far, warts included.
Third, I ask everyone here with IA-64 hardware and compilation environment to give the server a reasonably thorough shakedown, and report on and/or fix what falls out. In terms of a status report, I am currently aware of the following:
- ATI and R128 drivers work OK (Michael Madore)
- MGA and R128 drivers work OK (Mark Vojkovich)
- The loader needs to be changed to understand the IA64 flavour of ELF64. From the above, it appears that Stuart has volunteered for this one ;-)
- SIGILL's in VBE, probably related to int10 (Michael Madore)
- SIGSEGV's when loading/unloading pcidata and scanpci modules (Michael Madore).
This is surely incomplete and needs to be kept up to date.
These's a non-zero probability that most issues will be resolved by the time I get to ATI's labs, but I'm willing to accept that risk. There are lots of other things I can talk to ATI about anyway.
I might be way off base on this one, but I believe the development of an out-of-the-box XFree86 IA-64 server to be important, crucial even. It is my understanding that IA-64 systems have yet to hit the streets. If so, then we have an opportunity to preempt, or at least match, MS's entry into this market. Also, it's just a matter of time before the *BSD's join the IA-64 bandwagon, and XFree86 should be ready for them.
So, please, let's get our act together and have something to show for our efforts by 2000.09.22.
Thanks.
Marc.
+----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Marc Aurele La France | work: 1-780-492-9310 | | Computing and Network Services | fax: 1-780-492-1729 | | 352 General Services Building | email: [email protected] | | University of Alberta +-----------------------------------+ | Edmonton, Alberta | | | T6G 2H1 | Standard disclaimers apply | | CANADA | | +----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ XFree86 Core Team member. ATI driver and X server internals.