Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2016 05:11:52 +0200
From: rcochran@linutronix.de
To: Paul Gortmaker <paul.gortmaker@windriver.com>
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com>,
        Len Brown <lenb@kernel.org>, linux-pm@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] drivers/idle: make intel_idle.c driver more explicitly
 non-modular
Message-ID: <20160405031152.GA22836@linutronix.de>
References: <1459099777-4962-1-git-send-email-paul.gortmaker@windriver.com>
 <20160404195535.GQ1778@windriver.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline
In-Reply-To: <20160404195535.GQ1778@windriver.com>
User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15)
Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org
Content-Length: 1436
Lines: 32

On Mon, Apr 04, 2016 at 03:55:35PM -0400, Paul Gortmaker wrote:
> > This was done in commit 6ce9cd8669fa1195fdc21643370e34523c7ac988
> > ("intel_idle: disable module support") since "...the module capability
> > is cauing more trouble than it is worth."

The reason given in that commit was that "it lost the init race with
ACPI", whatever that means.

> > Since this was done over 5y ago, it is safe to say there is no big desire
> > to overcome the issues with modular versions.  So lets remove the modular
> > code that is essentially orphaned, so that when reading the driver there
> > is no doubt it is builtin-only.

So you want to make the driver non-modular due to lack of desire to
fix it?

> This patch will no longer apply since there were several updates to this
> driver by Richard Cochran dated March 29th.   Before I go and refresh
> the patch for a v2, is there any objections to the general goal of what
> the patch was aiming to achieve -- avoiding use of modular infrastructure
> in non-modular code, and not having module_exit code that can't be run?

On the one hand, the better way is to fix the issues, keeping the
driver's modular form.  That way, by loading and unloading, you can
observe how well it works.  I already started by fixing several bugs
WRT module init/exit.

On the other hand, if there is some technical reason why the modular
form is impossible, then the patch should state it.

Thanks,
Richard