With I2C, class based instantiation means if a master driver has e.g. I2C_CLASS_HWMON set, all slave drivers with this class will try to probe a device using an array of possible addresses and some heuristics. That creates traffic and needs time, even when nothing is connected. This mechanism is needed when you do not have another method to describe the slaves. Embedded I2C drivers do not need class based instantiation, since there is i2c_board_info or devicetree description. Some drivers have the class flags set, though, and it has spread further over the years. We can't remove the flags directly, because there might be users out there relying on this feature. So, we add a deprecation warning if a device is instantiated via class attributes. After giving some time to switch over, we can then finally remove the class flags and gain boot time. Patch 1 adds some missing documentation. Patch 2 adds the deprecation feature. Patches 3+4 are tested on hardware I need. Patches 5-17 are suggestions for drivers I think could benefit from that. For those, acks are needed before I will apply them to my tree. If you use a different driver which can also benefit from this, just send a patch adding the new DEPRECATED flag. The series can also be found here: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/wsa/linux.git i2c/deprecated_class Thanks, Wolfram Wolfram Sang (17): Documentation: i2c: describe devicetree method for instantiating devices i2c: add deprecation warning for class based instantiation i2c: i2c-omap: deprecate class based instantiation i2c: i2c-at91: deprecate class based instantiation i2c: i2c-bcm2835: deprecate class based instantiation i2c: i2c-bfin-twi: deprecate class based instantiation i2c: i2c-davinci: deprecate class based instantiation i2c: i2c-designware-platdrv: deprecate class based instantiation i2c: i2c-mv64xxx: deprecate class based instantiation i2c: i2c-nomadik: deprecate class based instantiation i2c: i2c-ocores: deprecate class based instantiation i2c: i2c-rcar: deprecate class based instantiation i2c: i2c-s3c2410: deprecate class based instantiation i2c: i2c-sirf: deprecate class based instantiation i2c: i2c-stu300: deprecate class based instantiation i2c: i2c-tegra: deprecate class based instantiation i2c: i2c-xiic: deprecate class based instantiation Documentation/i2c/instantiating-devices | 34 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++-- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-at91.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-bcm2835.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-bfin-twi.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-davinci.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-designware-platdrv.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-mv64xxx.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-nomadik.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-ocores.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-omap.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-rcar.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-s3c2410.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-sirf.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-stu300.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-tegra.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-xiic.c | 2 +- drivers/i2c/i2c-core.c | 7 ++++++ include/linux/i2c.h | 1 + 18 files changed, 55 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-) -- 1.8.5.1 -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-i2c" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html