Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S269855AbUIDJnv (ORCPT ); Sat, 4 Sep 2004 05:43:51 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S269857AbUIDJnu (ORCPT ); Sat, 4 Sep 2004 05:43:50 -0400 Received: from holly.csn.ul.ie ([136.201.105.4]:38571 "EHLO holly.csn.ul.ie") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S269855AbUIDJnk (ORCPT ); Sat, 4 Sep 2004 05:43:40 -0400 Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2004 10:43:39 +0100 (IST) From: Dave Airlie X-X-Sender: airlied@skynet To: Christoph Hellwig Cc: Jon Smirl , dri-devel@lists.sf.net, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: New proposed DRM interface design In-Reply-To: <20040904102914.B13149@infradead.org> Message-ID: References: <20040904004424.93643.qmail@web14921.mail.yahoo.com> <20040904102914.B13149@infradead.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1752 Lines: 38 > > Umm, the Linux kernel isn't about minimizing interfaces. We don't link a > copy of scsi helpers into each scsi driver either, or libata into each sata > driver. true but the DRM isn't only about the Linux kernel, the DRM is a lowlevel component of a much larger system, of which the DRM just has to reside in the kernel, While I agree the perfcet solution is to introduce another binary interface, but no-one on the dri-devel list is willing to dedicate most of their time for the next age answering questions like "well I upgraded my r200 driver, and my mga stopped working, and the ATI binary driver killed my dog when I changed something else", Ian has pointed this out on the dri-devel list as a major issue and to be honest he is not alone in his worries, if make the kernel responsible for the registration/de-reg only then build everything else in the drivers, we don't have to worry about someone adding a line to the middle of a structure and breaking the modules from somewhere else.. not many people have two different graphics cards and I'd rather inconvience them than increase support burden.. We go through this with the DRI/DRM/DDX interfaces on a number of occasions.. also the debacle of the i810 interface changes way back when.. I'd rather avoid it all at this stage.. again we are trying to find an agreeable balancing point... Dave. -- David Airlie, Software Engineer http://www.skynet.ie/~airlied / airlied at skynet.ie pam_smb / Linux DECstation / Linux VAX / ILUG person - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/