On Wed, Dec 26, 2018 at 1:43 AM Finn Thain <fth...@telegraphics.com.au> wrote:
> This allows for removal of drivers/char/generic_nvram.c as well as some > duplicated code in arch/powerpc/kernel/nvram_64.c. By reducing the number > of /dev/nvram char misc device implementations, the number of bugs and > inconsistencies is also reduced. > > This patch series reduces inconsistencies between PPC32 and PPC64, and > between PPC_PMAC and MAC. A uniform API has benefits for userspace. > For example, some error codes for some ioctl calls become consistent > across PowerPC platforms. The uniform API can potentially benefit > bootloaders that work across different platforms which all have XPRAM > (e.g. Emile). > > I think there are two reasonable merge strategies for this patch series. > The char misc maintainer could take the entire series. Alternatively the > m68k maintainer could take patches 1 thru 14, and after those patches > reach mainline the powerpc maintainer could take 15 thru 25 (even though > patch 21 is not powerpc-related). I had a look at the complete series now, and I think this is a great cleanup. I replied with a couple of minor comments that you may or may not want to address first. The one thing I would like to see resolved (I hope this doesn't bring back an old discussion you had already concluded) is regarding the use of a global exported structure of function pointers, as opposed to using either directly exported functions (with a consistent interface) or a boot-time selectable structure like dma_map_ops or ppc_md. Arnd