CONFIG_4KSTACKS

[Robert Locke]

On Sat, 2007-03-03 at 15:51 -0500, Patrick Doyle wrote:
> Does anybody know if there is a specific reason that the Fedora
> kernels (i686, FC6, anyway) are compiled with with CONFIG_4KSTACKS?
> Is there any reason _not_ to enable larger interrupt stacks?
> 
> I realize that this is more of a development list question, than a
> "general users" question, but I figured I'd start here, since I'm
> subscribed to this list.
> 
> --wpd
> 

Because the upstream kernel decision was to use 4KSTACKS.  You need to
take that up with Linus.... :-)  Feel free to search the lkml archives,
for a technical discussion on the merits of 4K vs. larger, but the short
answer is that those technical folks like 4K better (I seem to recall
something to the effect of big stack equals sloppy coding)....

The usual "reason" people Bring this up is because they are trying to
run a Windows driver.  The reality of that situation is that while the
8K Stack code handled most of them, technically, Windows expects a 12K
stack which might be some of the "problems" people are having with those
as it is.  The "real solution" here is for the ndiswrapper project to
modify their code to manage their own stack and not rely on the kernel
stack.  This has been flamed to death over the last few years, so it's
not like they didn't know this was coming.....

My personal solution was to ensure that I purchased equipment that had
native driver support (though admittedly this userspace daemon thing was
obviously a mistake, since they are re-writing it...).  This has the
effect, by the way, of showing purchasing following a Linux need and
maybe the hardware vendors will begin to see more of us and hence we
might receive a little more support/respect.

--Rob