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Subject: Re: [PATCH] kernel/watchdog.c: convert {soft/hard}lockup boot
 parameters to sysctl aliases
To:     Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
        "Guilherme G. Piccoli" <gpiccoli@canonical.com>
Cc:     linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org,
        keescook@chromium.org, yzaikin@google.com, mcgrof@kernel.org,
        kernel@gpiccoli.net
References: <20200507214624.21911-1-gpiccoli@canonical.com>
 <20200507160618.43c2825e49dec1df8db30429@linux-foundation.org>
From:   Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Message-ID: <f2273ab4-d2fc-cee5-61ed-8148d4a76709@suse.cz>
Date:   Mon, 11 May 2020 12:31:29 +0200
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On 5/8/20 1:06 AM, Andrew Morton wrote:
> On Thu,  7 May 2020 18:46:24 -0300 "Guilherme G. Piccoli" <gpiccoli@canonical.com> wrote:
> 
>> After a recent change introduced by Vlastimil's series [0], kernel is
>> able now to handle sysctl parameters on kernel command line; also, the
>> series introduced a simple infrastructure to convert legacy boot
>> parameters (that duplicate sysctls) into sysctl aliases.
>> 
>> This patch converts the watchdog parameters softlockup_panic and
>> {hard,soft}lockup_all_cpu_backtrace to use the new alias infrastructure.
>> It fixes the documentation too, since the alias only accepts values 0
>> or 1, not the full range of integers. We also took the opportunity here
>> to improve the documentation of the previously converted hung_task_panic
>> (see the patch series [0]) and put the alias table in alphabetical order.
> 
> We have a lot of sysctls.  What is the motivation for converting these
> particular ones?

It's not converting sysctls, it's converting legacy boot parameters that have a
sysctl counterpart. There's not a lot of those, and new ones shouldn't be added
with the generic infrastructure in place. I would have converted them myself if
I found them :)