ACPICA version 20100304 released

[Moore, Robert]

04 March 2010. Summary of changes for version 20100304:

This release is available at www.acpica.org/downloads

1) ACPI CA Core Subsystem:

Fixed a possible problem with the AML Mutex handling function AcpiExReleaseMutex where the function could fault under the very rare condition when the interpreter has blocked, the interpreter lock is released, the interpreter is then reentered via the same thread, and attempts to acquire an AML mutex that was previously acquired. FreeBSD report 140979. Lin Ming.

Implemented additional configuration support for the AML "Debug Object". Output from the debug object can now be enabled via a global variable, AcpiGbl_EnableAmlDebugObject. This will assist with remote machine debugging. This debug output is now available in the release version of ACPICA instead of just the debug version. Also, the entire debug output module can now be configured out of the ACPICA build if desired. One new file added, executer/exdebug.c. Lin Ming, Bob Moore.

Added header support for the ACPI MCHI table (Management Controller Host Interface Table). This table was added in ACPI 4.0, but the defining document has only recently become available.

Standardized output of integer values for ACPICA warnings/errors. Always use 0x prefix for hex output, always use %u for unsigned integer decimal output. Affects ACPI_INFO, ACPI_ERROR, ACPI_EXCEPTION, and ACPI_WARNING (about 400 invocations.) These invocations were converted from the original ACPI_DEBUG_PRINT invocations and were not consistent. ACPICA BZ 835.

Example Code and Data Size: These are the sizes for the OS-independent acpica.lib produced by the Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 32-bit compiler. The debug version of the code includes the debug output trace mechanism and has a much larger code and data size.

  Previous Release:
    Non-Debug Version:  87.1K Code, 18.0K Data, 105.1K Total
    Debug Version:     163.5K Code, 50.9K Data, 214.4K Total
  Current Release:
    Non-Debug Version:  87.5K Code, 18.4K Data, 105.9K Total
    Debug Version:     163.4K Code, 51.1K Data, 214.5K Total

2) iASL Compiler/Disassembler and Tools:

iASL: Implemented typechecking support for static (non-control method) predefined named objects that are declared with the Name() operator. For example, the type of this object is now validated to be of type Integer: Name(_BBN, 1). This change migrates the compiler to using the core predefined name table instead of maintaining a local version. Added a new file, aslpredef.c. ACPICA BZ 832.

Disassembler: Added support for the ACPI 4.0 MCHI table.