Thread (99 messages) 99 messages, 15 authors, 2015-03-16

[PATCH] ARM: /proc/cpuinfo: Use DT machine name when possible

From: Pavel Machek <hidden>
Date: 2014-06-19 08:21:52
Also in: lkml

On Wed 2014-06-18 20:59:08, Russell King - ARM Linux wrote:
On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 09:09:58PM +0200, Pali Roh?r wrote:
quoted
On Wednesday 18 June 2014 21:01:09 Russell King - ARM Linux 
wrote:
quoted
On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 06:54:24PM +0200, Pali Roh?r wrote:
quoted
Machine name from board description is some generic name on
DT kernel. DT provides machine name property which is
specific for board, so use it instead generic one when
possible.
http://archive.arm.linux.org.uk/lurker/message/20130726.132850
.53d47576.en.html

"If userspace wants to get at the DT information about a
platform, we already have ways that can happen already - we
export the DT stuff so that kexec's tools can get at it."
Userspace application does not know that kernel using DT. And 
also it does not want to get DT information. Only board/machine 
name. So existing applications stop working after migration to 
DT. And because legacy board boot code (without DT) is going to 
be removed for ARM in near future this will permanently break 
existing applications.
We're already breaking the userspace API through moving to DT, because
all the device names in /sys/devices are changing.  Userspace is going
to have to cope with change as we move towards DT.  This is just
another aspect of moving towards DT, and one which userspace is going
to have to deal with.
quoted
And sometimes it is even not possible to fix userspace 
application if is closed source - binary only.
And why do we care about closed source?
"No regressions". Recent DT changes broke userspace we care about. Now you can either
revert DT changes, or fix the code to be compatible-enough. Second option is better, I guess.
If we listened to this argument, then we wouldn't ever be able to
change anything in procfs or sysfs.
If we find procfs/sysfs changes that break userspace, we revert them. Its 
that simple.
									Pavel
-- 
(english) http://www.livejournal.com/~pavelmachek
(cesky, pictures) http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~pavel/picture/horses/blog.html
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