Maximum bootable kernel size in current ARM linux
Bruce M. Penrod
bmpenrod at endruntechnologies.com
Mon Sep 13 03:40:56 EDT 2010
This seems like a pretty straightforward question, but extensive web
searching hasn't shown a really clear, up-to-date answer. The most
recent info is circa 2004 and states that 4MB is the largest
uncompressed ARM kernel that may be loaded. Not being an ARM assembly
guru (head.S baffles me), I'd like to know if that is still true in
2010, and if it is, why?
I'm having one hell of a time compiling a monolithic kernel and keeping
it under 4M without leaving out some core networking features I need.
From my searching, it looks like x86 has either removed the limit or
raised it to a much higher number. It's not clear to me why a 32 bit
processor would not be able to boot a kernel larger than 4 MB.
Bruce
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