On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 12:14 PM, Alan Cox <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> I was thinking about re-doing ata_piix part in a way that we could >> merge it now by adding support for older PIIX-alikes to ata_piix and >> making it enabled only if "all_piixalikes" module parameter is >> specified. This way older drivers would be left untouched for now >> and we can easily get in-tree testing for a new code. Does it sound >> as a viable alternative? > > That is the bit to me that makes the least sense. Each of the devices in > question is found only in the chipset so they can never be in combination > on a board (except multiple PIIX4 which is already covered) > > Merging them makes it more likely stuff breaks and increases memory usage > - its a lose/lose situation. Each device is very similar to other one, so keeping 6 drivers for the (almost) same stuff makes a little sense from the long-term maintainability POV, It is a question of different trade-offs since on the other side of equation we have 5 drivers less, 1400 LOCs less, no risk of losing bugfixes and features (which is true already w/ pata_rdc lacking locking fixes + Power Management and pata_oldpiix lacking parallel scanning feature). As for increased memory usage -- we are talking here only about 10-20k more. If it really is a problem maybe ata_piix can be redesigned into ata_generic-style manner so with the help of existing config options we can keep code size / memory usage on a existing level. Thanks, Bartlomiej -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-ide" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
