
Chapter 2. Linux 2.6 kernel 11
Table 2-1 Compatibility mode system call emulation
2.2 Performance and scalability enhancements
Much of the Linux 2.6 kernel development is intended to increase performance
and improve scalability. Some of the major changes made to the kernel include:
Reduction in the number of global locks
To improve system responsiveness, many global locks have been replaced
with fine-grained locks. For instance, both the block I/O layer lock and all
global locks in the virtual memory layer have been replaced.
Increase in the number of unique users and groups
The user and group ID variables have increased from a 16-bit value ...