I test loading the same images on X86/PowerPC platforms.
Size of image files:
3432K uImage
80948K vmlinux
25180K ramdisk
Test 1) X86
$ qemu-system-ppc -M mpc8544ds -cpu MPC8544 -kernel vmlinux -initrd ramdisk -m
256M -nographic
$ qemu-system-ppc -M mpc8544ds -cpu MPC8544 -kernel uImage -initrd ramdisk -m
256M -nographic
------------------------------------------------------------------
Pmap of QEMU on X86
------------------------------------------------------------------
| vmlinux | uImage
------------------------------------------------------------------
| boot | 500044K | 498484K
Upstream | reset 1 |- 500176K |- 498616K
| reset 2 | 500176K | 498616K
------------------------------------------------------------------
| boot | 476000K | 469440K
| reset 1 |- 495640K |- 491472K
| reset 2 | 497024K | 491472K
Loader patches | reset 3 | 498412K | 491472K
| reset 4 | 499796K | 491472K
| reset 5 | 501184K | 491472K
| reset 6 | 502568K | 491472K
------------------------------------------------------------------
Saving | 4536K | 7144K
------------------------------------------------------------------
Test 2) Freescale MPC8572DS (e500v2 core) board
# qemu-system-ppc -enable-kvm -m 256 -nographic -M mpc8544ds -kernel vmlinux
-initrd ramdisk -append "root=/dev/ram rw loglevel=7 console=ttyS0,115200"
-serial tcp::4445,server -net nic
# qemu-system-ppc -enable-kvm -m 256 -nographic -M mpc8544ds -kernel uImage
-initrd ramdisk -append "root=/dev/ram rw loglevel=7 console=ttyS0,115200"
-serial tcp::4445,server -net nic
------------------------------------------------------------------
Pmap of QEMU on MPC8472DS board
------------------------------------------------------------------
| vmlinux | uImage
------------------------------------------------------------------
| pre boot | 16240K | 16240K
| boot | 322092K | 320500K
Upstream | reset 1 |- 322092K |- 320500K
| reset 2 | 322092K | 320500K
------------------------------------------------------------------
| pre boot | 16244K | 16244K
| boot | 291476K | 288252K
| reset 1 |- 292868K |- 288252K
Loader patches | reset 2 | 294260K | 288252K
| reset 3 | 295652K | 288252K
| reset 4 | 297044K | 288252K
| reset 5 | 298436K | 288252K
| reset 6 | 299828K | 288252K
------------------------------------------------------------------
Saving | 29224K | 32248K
------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Regards,
Olivia
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Yin Olivia-R63875
> Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 9:29 PM
> To: qemu-devel@nongnu.org; qemu-...@nongnu.org
> Cc: Yin Olivia-R63875
> Subject: [RFC PATCH v4 0/3] reload kernel/initrd/elf images when reset
>
> The current model of loader copy "rom blobs" and kept in memory until a
> reset occurs and waste host memory.
>
> This serial of patches uses private reset handlers to load from hard disk
> on reset, which could make loader framework more dynamic and reduce the
> memory consumption of QEMU process.
>
> Olivia Yin (3):
> use image_file_reset to reload initrd image
> use uimage_reset to reload uimage
> use elf_reset to reload elf image
>
> elf.h | 10 ++++++
> hw/elf_ops.h | 101
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> hw/loader.c | 103 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
> -----
> hw/loader.h | 7 ++++
> 4 files changed, 203 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-)
> ---
>
> v4:
> uImage/vmlinux/ramdisk had been verified on PowerPC platforms.
> Issue:
> It seemed that the patch 3/3 could not free the memory for phdr, and the
> memory map of QEMU will increase 1392K every time.
> If free phdr, system_reset will cause segmentation fault.
