[comp.unix.microport] swap

trevor@trevan.UUCP (trevor) (07/04/89)

	The distribution Microport V/AT has a swap device witha major
number of 1 and minor of 198. This is infact the mem device. I suspect
that it is redundant as the swap devices are also contained in the dsk and
rdsk directories.

			regards trevor

wnp@attctc.DALLAS.TX.US (Wolf Paul) (07/06/89)

In article <368@trevan.UUCP> trevor@trevan.UUCP (trevor) writes:
>
>	The distribution Microport V/AT has a swap device witha major
>number of 1 and minor of 198. This is infact the mem device. I suspect
>that it is redundant as the swap devices are also contained in the dsk and
>rdsk directories.


I am not absolutely certain, but believe that this is related to the fact
that the Microport boot disk in releases 2.3 and later is WRITE-PROTECTED,
and there is therefore no real swap device in a floppy-rooted system.

I believe that this does get rectified on the hard disk by the "installit"
script.

As to your comment in your previous posting about cc -Ml requiring a space
between the 'M' and the 'l' (and likewise for -Ms) -- I have not observed
this in any of the releases and have been using Microport V/AT for three
years now.

Wolf
ha
-- 
Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101
UUCP:   {texbell, attctc, dalsqnt}!dcs!wnp
DOMAIN: wnp@attctc.dallas.tx.us or wnp%dcs@texbell.swbt.com
        NOTICE: As of July 3, 1989, "killer" has become "attctc".

pcg@aber-cs.UUCP (Piercarlo Grandi) (07/06/89)

In article <368@trevan.UUCP> trevor@trevan.UUCP (trevor) writes:
    
    	The distribution Microport V/AT has a swap device witha major
    number of 1 and minor of 198. This is infact the mem device.

The kernel on the floppy uses a ramdisk for swapping so that the bootable
floppy can be read only. You absolutely don't want a hard disk rooted system
to continue swapping to the ramdisk. Indeed you may want to remove the
ramdisk from the hard disk kernel configuration (in favour of larger buffer
chaches).

    I suspect that it is redundant as the swap devices are also contained in
    the dsk and rdsk directories.

The kernel only obeys the "swapdev" definition given when it is built; it
completely ignores the /dev*swap device files. The /dev*swap device files are
used by "ps" (mainly) to read the u-area/stack of swapped out processes. It
is the system administrator's responsibility that the /dev/*swap devices map
onto the same partition indicated in the "swapdev" variable definition; if
they are not, "ps" (and some other commands) will just report incorrect
things.
-- 
Piercarlo "Peter" Grandi           | ARPA: pcg%cs.aber.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
Dept of CS, UCW Aberystwyth        | UUCP: ...!mcvax!ukc!aber-cs!pcg
Penglais, Aberystwyth SY23 3BZ, UK | INET: pcg@cs.aber.ac.uk