32-bit process ids (was: Re: idea to enhance get_pid())

[Dan Aloni]

On Sat, 2002-04-20 at 20:50, Dan Kegel wrote:

> I'd like to know more about that bash bug; do you have a URL for it?
> (Is there even a bug tracking system for bash?)
> I looked a bit on gnu.bash.bugs, and found two possibly related
> patches; do these have anything to do with the bug?
> http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=200104130734.AAA12931%40shade.twinsun.com
> http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=200104130854.BAA18368%40shade.twinsun.com

In a post by Linus from 2 years ago, concerning the bash bug 
( http://lwn.net/2000/0120/a/lt-pid.html ), he also writes about
what holds from switching to 32 bit pids. and it's mainly 
because it's unclear about the way pids should be handled in 
a clustering environment.

According to the kernel patch made by the people at Cluster
Infrastructure ( http://ci-linux.sourceforge.net/ ), today 
it is clear that the upper 16 bits of the pid are used for the node
number. 

Linus should consider applying Andries Brouwer's patch from October:
( http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel&m=100274734125520&w=2 )
This is really 2.5 material, but it slipped away for no apparent reason.