-*- text -*- * The tests in tests/ don't apply the grading patches. * We need better and more example programs. - Need an mmap example program as a replacement for the crappy mmap FAQ question. - How about `diff' and `cmp' programs? * Threads: - mlfqs tests suck. They aren't even correct, e.g. the amarv submission from win0405 is graded incorrectly. * Userprog project: - Don't emphasize that stuff needs to be copied from user space to kernel space. Instead, emphasize validation and suggest that copying is a common solution and that it will be necessary in project 3 and in real OSes. Also revise the grading criteria to match. - Mark read-only pages as actually read-only in the page table. Or, since this was consistently rated as the easiest project by the students, require them to do it. - Don't provide per-process pagedir implementation but only single-process implementation and require students to implement the separation? This project was rated as the easiest after all. Alternately we could just remove the synchronization on pid selection and check that students fix it. * VM project: - Discuss the perils of mixing dirty bits between kernel and user virtual memory. - Sample solution. - Update grading/vm to reflect new mmap, munmap forms. * Filesys project: - Increase maximum disk size from 8 MB to something that actually requires doubly indirect nodes. There is a negative pressure here from the bitmap object--perhaps we need a specialized bitmap that doesn't have to be all in-memory at once. Alternatively, shrink the inode size. - Add option to disable buffer cache. - Sample solution. - Need a better way to measure performance improvement of buffer cache. Some students reported that their system was slower with cache--likely, Bochs doesn't simulate a disk with a realistic speed. - Clarify effect of remove(cwd). * Documentation: - Finish writing tour. - Add "Digging Deeper" sections that describe the nitty-gritty x86 details for the benefit of those interested. - Add explanations of what "real" OSes do to give students some perspective. * Assignments: - Add extra credit: . Low-level x86 stuff, like paged page tables. . Specifics on how to implement sbrk, malloc. . Other good ideas. . opendir/readdir/closedir . everything needed for getcwd() - Add src/testcases/vm, src/testcases/filesys and make it clear to use them? * Tests: - Release some of them. - The threads, userprog, vm test source files could use factorization and cleanup along the lines of fslib in the filesys tests. - The p1-4.c testcase needs significant tuning. Currently it takes too long (especially when SHOW_PROGRESS is turned on) and doesn't show significant improvement. * Code: - Make threads test use a program and arguments like the other projects. - Revise command-line arguments for sensibility instead of for Nachos compatibility. - Get rid of all compile-time flags, e.g. MLFQS should be a runtime command-line option. - Need an optimization barrier and an explanation of it in the documentation. - Need to check the wait system call more thoroughly. - Library is not precisely standard, e.g. ptrdiff_t should not be defined by stdlib.h.