[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