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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/x86_64/cpu-hotplug-spec')
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diff --git a/Documentation/x86_64/cpu-hotplug-spec b/Documentation/x86_64/cpu-hotplug-spec new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..5c0fa345e556 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/x86_64/cpu-hotplug-spec | |||
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1 | Firmware support for CPU hotplug under Linux/x86-64 | ||
2 | --------------------------------------------------- | ||
3 | |||
4 | Linux/x86-64 supports CPU hotplug now. For various reasons Linux wants to | ||
5 | know in advance boot time the maximum number of CPUs that could be plugged | ||
6 | into the system. ACPI 3.0 currently has no official way to supply | ||
7 | this information from the firmware to the operating system. | ||
8 | |||
9 | In ACPI each CPU needs an LAPIC object in the MADT table (5.2.11.5 in the | ||
10 | ACPI 3.0 specification). ACPI already has the concept of disabled LAPIC | ||
11 | objects by setting the Enabled bit in the LAPIC object to zero. | ||
12 | |||
13 | For CPU hotplug Linux/x86-64 expects now that any possible future hotpluggable | ||
14 | CPU is already available in the MADT. If the CPU is not available yet | ||
15 | it should have its LAPIC Enabled bit set to 0. Linux will use the number | ||
16 | of disabled LAPICs to compute the maximum number of future CPUs. | ||
17 | |||
18 | In the worst case the user can overwrite this choice using a command line | ||
19 | option (additional_cpus=...), but it is recommended to supply the correct | ||
20 | number (or a reasonable approximation of it, with erring towards more not less) | ||
21 | in the MADT to avoid manual configuration. | ||