[2701] in linux-net channel archive
Re: Network module autoprobing in 1.3
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Paul Gortmaker)
Sun Apr 28 23:19:16 1996
From: Paul Gortmaker <gpg109@rsphy6.anu.edu.au>
To: apenwarr@foxnet.net (Avery Pennarun)
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 1996 19:53:02 +1000 (EST)
Cc: linux-net@vger.rutgers.edu
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.91.960426211222.12973H-100000@wingnut.foxnet.net> from "Avery Pennarun" at Apr 26, 96 09:15:31 pm
From "Avery Pennarun" at Apr 26, 96 09:15:31 pm
> Hi all. Since I fixed the IRQ-autoprobe-lockup bug in early 1.3 kernels, it
> seems like the ARCnet driver is pretty much the only driver to actually take
> advantage of this.
>
> Yes, it means network drivers autoprobing as modules works quite well
> indeed, and so the extra checks that disable probing for modules are no
> longer necessary. Is the kernel just waiting for someone to sweep through
> and remove all those checks, or are we too deep in code freeze now to
> attempt it?
Be careful as to exactly what you are refering to here when you say
things like "the extra checks that disable probing for modules are no
longer necessary". Autoprobing for an IRQ event is one thing, and
autoprobing for the actual hardware is a completely different story.
The latter usually involves walking on broken glass, and trying to
avoid boot-time hangs, wheras the former is a relatively safe task.
It is not 100% clear from the above as to whether you are talking about
just removing the IRQ check from some drivers, or the i/o check as well.
I would *strongly* object to removing the requirement of an i/o base
for insmoding something like the ne2k driver. The same goes for any
other driver that doesn't (or can't) do its i/o probing in a very
very unobtrusive way. However, if you are talking about only removing
the requirement of a passed in IRQ value, then that is okay, as I never
required an IRQ value for insmoding any 8390 drivers to begin with. :-)
As an aside, the drivers will be changed to use the architecture
specific auto-irq routines, like probe_irq_on() and friends which are
hidden in ./arch/XXX/kernel/irq.c -- but this will happen in the v2.1
series, and not now. This will push ./drivers/net/auto_irq.c into
obsolescence. So it might be wise to leave those drivers that want an
IRQ value as they are until that gets in and tested.
Paul.
