[ACTIVITY] (Dave Martin) 2011-08-01 - 2011-08-12

[Dave Martin]

== Dave Martin <dmart> ==

=== Activity Summary ===
 * Linaro Connect and ARM Partner Meeting consumed much of the last two weeks
 * Main output from Linaro Connect was some progress on vexpress
device tree support (with much help from Lorenzo Pieralisi and Grant
Likely).  I have a kernel _building_ now, but I still need to test it,
and write the Makefile rules properly.
 * Alignment fault fixup mode patches now merged by Russell for the
3.2 window.  If these are included in linux-linaro we will be able to
find and resolve outstanding problems by booting with e.g. alignment=5
on the kernel command-line.
 * Posted patches to fix multiplatform kernels for Thumb-2 userspace.
This issue can affect any single kernel image which contains both v6
and v7 support, when running Thumb-2 userspace containing VFP
instructions (i.e., Linaro filesystems fail with a torrent of
SIGILLs).  Some rework is needed, but no major objections received so
far.
 * Posted a suggestion on the binutils list about a more generic way
to save/restore the assembler state during assembly.  Some positive
feedback received; I will draft a more detailed proposal for review.
For now it's just an RFC, and I haven't committed to spending real
time on it.

=== Plans ===
 * Test new vexpress devicetree patches, rework and post.
 * Rework and repost multiplatform Thumb-2 undef handling patches.
 * Write up brief advice for Thumb-2 kernel migration.
 * Write up detailed proposal for assembler state save/restore.
 * Check whether the new kernel trees work in Thumb-2 on mx51evk and
follow up with Freescale landing team.
 * Suggest we disable aligment fixups for linaro images, since
gtk-sharp2 is now the only thing known to be affected, once my
alignment fixup patchas have been posted for review.

=== Work Items ===
no status change

=== Absences ===
probable absence of ~3 days around the start of September