[ACTIVITY][weekly][linaro] (Dave Martin) 2012-01-30 - 2012-02-17

[Dave Martin]

[ACTIVITY][weekly][linaro] (Dave Martin) 2012-01-30 - 2012-02-17

== Dave Martin <dmart> ==

=== Activity Summary ===
 * big.LITTLE switcher bringup on the ARM model to be delivered to
Linaro (builds; mostly, but not completely, working)

 * Linaro Connect

 * Started hacking some patches to enter the kernel in HYP mode to
allow the kernel to install its own hypervisor code at run-time --
potentially of interest to the big.LITTLE and KVM folks.

  -> git://git.linaro.org/people/dmart/linux-3-arm.git
arm/hyp-entry+zImage-bounce-hacks (zImage decompressor runs mostly in
SVC mode, appears to work, but the zImage hacks are fundamentally
flawed and may not work on real hardware)

  -> git://git.linaro.org/people/dmart/linux-3-arm.git
arm/hyp-entry+lpae (zImage decompressor runs natively in hyp mode --
currently extremely incomplete and out of sync with the other
branches)

  -> git://git.linaro.org/people/dmart/boot-wrapper.git
hyp-entry/fixes (fixes on top of Rusty's boot-wrapper required for
actually testing the above branches on the model)

   This work is not posted upstream yet: the plan is to get a sane
implementation and a reasonably clean patch series before posting an
upstream RFC.

=== Plans ===
 * Sync the various arm/hyp-entry branches and cleanly separate the
main kernel stuff from the zImage decompressor stuff
 * Address the various comments received so far.
 * Modify the in-kernel hypervisor stub just to provide a raw "jump to
this address in hyp mode" call instead of a cooked "set hypervisor
vectors" call.  This is closer to Christoffer Dall's existing
implementation for KVM, and is both simpler and more flexible than my
current approach.
 * Clean up main kernel patches and post upstream RFC.
 * Get the zImage decompressor working in hyp mode; post for review.

 * Draft initial specification for the big.LITTLE implementation
details within Linaro, and flesh out the blueprint.
 * Finish debugging the GNU-ised ARM switcher on the A15+A7 model.

=== Work Items ===
no update

=== Absences ===
none planned yet