The kernel column #95 by Jon Masters
Dec 28, 2010, 22:34 (0 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Jon Masters)
"Jon Masters talks about features in the 2.6.37 Linux kernel and
describes debugging a kernel problem using the Git bisection
feature…
"We're now free of the Big Kernel Lock (in many configurations
– it's a config option that will hide other
not-yet-compatible options when used) and I have been running
systems BKL-free for some time now. Arnd Bergman and others have
done an excellent job to rid us of this last vestige of truly
ancient non-scalable Linux and unless you need a V4L (Video-4-Linux
– TV tuner, webcam etc) device, you can probably run BKL-free
today too. It is hoped that V4L will be fixed soon, maybe in time
for 2.6.37. You probably won't notice a huge performance benefit of
running without the BKL unless you happen to have something more
high end than a desktop, but it's still pretty cool to know that
you could get higher performance if only you could afford to have a
system with dozens of CPUs to take advantage of it."
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