First I would like to thank those of you who pointed out the
dep problem to me in compiling 2.1.14. It compiles fine now.
For the most part I was successful at my first attempt into
2.1.x land. I did follow the 1.3.x series in its entirety,
and vowed to myself not to do this again with 2.1.x.
To my questions at hand, I'm not a real programmer, nor do I
play one on TV. :) Just curious folk here...
I remember some blurb from linus (our saviour) about the verify_area()
going away in the 2.1 series. With my newly compiled kernel, I did in
fact experience this first hand when trying to recompile dosemu and
ibcs.
I haven't sifted through the verify_area() code well enough to claim a
complete understanding of its function. But I'm assuming here that its
dissappearance means that the new kernel's hard coded kernel/user space
boundaries are now controlling the late call's functionality. Am I off
track here??
If this is the case, in such programs that make the call, what shall one
do in its place? Negate the entire routine and assume lower level
processes
will do the right thing with our memory and data? I'm not looking for a
complete course on kernel hacking here, just a brief description, or a
pointer to a more in depth discussion on this particular change and its
ramifications on the above mentioned programs, and I suppose other
programs
at that.
Any input is appreciated...
---russ