BGL

[Robert Slade]

On Sat, 2005-10-01 at 04:58, Ansar Mohammed wrote:
> I love FreeBSD. I have been using it since 2.x. I have never had any
> problems with it. Rock Solid. Never a single kernel panic.
> 
> Then I come across this article in a comparison between Linux and FreeBSD
> saying that FreeBSD has kernel locking issues. Specifically, a problem
> nicknamed BGL or Big Giant Lock. It seems that it affects SMP systems under
> high load.
> 
> How much do other OSes suffer from this?
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Kris Kennaway [mailto:kris at obsecurity.org]
> > Sent: September 30, 2005 4:46 PM
> > To: Ansar Mohammed
> > Cc: freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> > Subject: Re: BGL
> > 
> > On Thu, Sep 29, 2005 at 10:09:17PM -0400, Ansar Mohammed wrote:
> > > Is the kernel locking issue with FreeBSD 4.x sorted out in 5.x? I can't
> > seem
> > > to get a proper answer.
> > 
> > Perhaps because the above isn't a proper question?  Yes, the BGL was
> > pushed down a lot in FreeBSD 5.  It still covers some parts of the
> > kernel (less in 6), so if can be more precise about a specific
> > "locking issue" then perhaps we can give a more precise answer.
> > 
> > Kris

Ansar,

I have had a mail server running a SMP kernel with Fedora Core 2 I have
not seen any Kernel Lockup or random reboots.

I am been having problems with a Quad processor machine with both 5.4
and 6 beta so much so that the machine is unusable with the SMP kernel.

Hope this helps

Rob