Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Sat, 27 Apr 2002 01:04:51 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Sat, 27 Apr 2002 01:04:51 -0400 Received: from relais.videotron.ca ([24.201.245.36]:54779 "EHLO VL-MS-MR005.sc1.videotron.ca") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Sat, 27 Apr 2002 01:04:50 -0400 From: "Enrico Demarin" To: "'Richard Thrapp'" , "'linux-kernel'" Subject: RE: The tainted message Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 01:06:07 -0700 Message-ID: <00b201c1edc2$62c8f520$0340a8c0@shodan2> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.3416 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 In-Reply-To: <1019883102.8819.48.camel@wizard> Importance: Normal Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Well a smart user could eliminate the tainted stuff and get support anyway. What's the point of having such a message ? I think it's trivial to get rid of it anyway. - Enrico -----Original Message----- From: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org [mailto:linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org] On Behalf Of Richard Thrapp Sent: April 26, 2002 9:52 PM To: linux-kernel; alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk Subject: The tainted message I originally took this up with Keith Owens, but he said I should bring the discussion here since the message was chosen here (although I could not find where in the archives), and that he might change it if I get the approval of Alan Cox. I just discovered semi-recently (a couple of months ago) that newer versions of modutils have an insmod that prints out the tainted warnings for non-GPL licenses. While I agree that printing a warning when installing a non-GPLed module is important to inform the user that their kernel is no longer supported by the kernel maintainers, I have issues with the exact message printed. First of all, the current tainted message is not really useful. "Warning: Loading %s will taint the kernel..." isn't very informative at all. Most people don't know what it means to "taint the kernel". It's a vague phrase in English, and only if you know the current kernel source (or at least some of the semi-recent discussions on kernel tainting) is its meaning clear. As a matter of fact, it makes it sound like the module has a virus in it that has just infected your kernel. As Linux becomes more common for non-experts, it becomes even more important for error and informational messages to be clear. Secondly, loading the module doesn't actually 'taint' the kernel, but instead it mostly invalidates your chances for support from the core kernel maintainers. Thirdly, the warning that loading the module "will" taint the kernel is an inaccurate use of tense. It implies that the module wasn't loaded (which might be true at that time from the point of view of the code, but is not true from the point of view of the user, which is who the message is written for). I have actually had bug reports where users complain that a module won't load because of the tense of this message. I would like to propose that a clearer, more direct message be used. Something like "Warning: kernel maintainers may not support your kernel since you have loaded %s: %s%s\n" would be much more informative and correct. Opinions? Comments? Thanks! -- Richard Thrapp - 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/ - 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/