Thread Performance on Linux and Solaris

Question

This Linux Magazine article http://www.linux-mag.com/id/792 explains the difference in how threads are implemented on Linux compared to commercial Unix like Solaris. Thus, Linux uses a mapping of user streams from 1 to 1 to kernel threads, while Solaris uses a lot of map data. It follows from the article that this can give Solaris a performance advantage, especially when switching between threads. Before I spend time checking this out, has anyone done this already?

Answer 1

People used to think that M: N streams were a good idea, but everyone moved in a 1: 1 stream; it has lower overhead and works better in SMP environments. Solaris has moved from M: N streaming to 1: 1 stream in Solaris 9 , I reckon. This article with which you are connected seems to be from 2001, so it is a little outdated (it is only a subscriber, so I could not read it).