>>>>> "andrew" == Andrew Clausen <clausen@melbourne.sgi.com> writes: andrew> Hi all, andrew> This code isn't really relevant to what I'm working on (it isn't compiled andrew> in to kernels for the ip27), but I just noticed it, and it looks broken: andrew> /* Find the highest page frame number we have available. */ andrew> max_pfn = 0; andrew> for (i = 0; i < boot_mem_map.nr_map; i++) { andrew> unsigned long start, end; andrew> if (boot_mem_map.map[i].type != BOOT_MEM_RAM) andrew> continue; andrew> ***** start = PFN_UP(boot_mem_map.map[i].addr); andrew> ***** end = PFN_DOWN(boot_mem_map.map[i].addr andrew> + boot_mem_map.map[i].size); andrew> ***** if (start >= end) andrew> continue; andrew> if (end > max_pfn) andrew> max_pfn = end; andrew> } andrew> That test looks like it will always succeed... and it looks like the andrew> author wanted it to be a sanity check. andrew> Why all this business with PFN_UP and PFN_DOWN? (They are bit andrew> shifts... PFN_UP shifts left, PFN_DOWN shifts right) Not completely sure, but I think that it is related with the weird discontig memory that Origins (and I think other MIPS machines) have. (Just having put the file where that thing are, will have saved me a grep :) 1st- Looking at the code, both of them shift right: #define PFN_UP(x) (((x) + PAGE_SIZE - 1) >> PAGE_SHIFT) #define PFN_DOWN(x) ((x) >> PAGE_SHIFT) PFN_UP -> page frame of next page PFN_DOWN -> page frame of this page 2nd - if the region is empty (size = 0), start will be == end, which means that we don't considerd that area for checking what memory are available. Standard disclaimer: That is my reading/things that I remind about that, any resemblance with reality can be pure coincidence :p I am not an expert in SGI machines lowlevel details but any mean. Later, Juan. -- In theory, practice and theory are the same, but in practice they are different -- Larry McVoy