Hi Jinesh Thanks for your response. Does this mean that when context switch occurs, the kernel always stores the FPU registers and status even though the particular process does not do any floating point operation? But how does it relate to the "We should not use Floating -point operation in Kernel? Is it is simply a design issue to have much performance or we cannot do at all floating point operation in kernel itself? Thanks Manjunath Naik -----Original Message----- From: Jinesh K J [mailto:jineshkj.newsletters@xxxxxxxxx] Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 4:28 PM To: Manjunath_Naik Cc: kernelnewbies Subject: Re: why Does Kernel Module should not do Floating Point operation? > What is meant by FPU? How does it relates to kernel? > FPU (Floating Point Unit) is a special hardware accompanied with your processor (usually within) for doing floating-point arithmetic. Its infact a separate processing core with its own set of registers for doing the work. As with any other resource, concurrent access and race conditions are possible in this one also, which requires us to save the FPU state(registers) in case of any context switch. The kernel doesn't wanna have this overhead when it can mostly do without it. I hope you have got your answer. jinesh. DISCLAIMER: This email (including any attachments) is intended for the sole use of the intended recipient/s and may contain material that is CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVATE COMPANY INFORMATION. Any review or reliance by others or copying or distribution or forwarding of any or all of the contents in this message is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by email and delete all copies; your cooperation in this regard is appreciated. -- Kernelnewbies: Help each other learn about the Linux kernel. Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/kernelnewbies/ FAQ: http://kernelnewbies.org/faq/
