From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with archive (Exim 4.43) id 1KxfIq-0003FW-Et for mharc-grub-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:07:56 -0500 Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1KxfIm-0003F1-WF for grub-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:07:53 -0500 Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1KxfIl-0003Dz-5t for grub-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:07:51 -0500 Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=59080 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1KxfIj-0003DX-0g for grub-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:07:49 -0500 Received: from aybabtu.com ([69.60.117.155]:48014) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1KxfIi-0001hg-B8 for grub-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:07:48 -0500 Received: from [192.168.10.10] (helo=thorin) by aybabtu.com with esmtps (TLS-1.0:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1KxfI7-0002P5-Bx for grub-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:07:11 +0100 Received: from rmh by thorin with local (Exim 4.63) (envelope-from ) id 1KxeuO-0003DS-S6 for grub-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:42:40 +0100 Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 10:42:40 +0100 From: Robert Millan To: The development of GRUB 2 Message-ID: <20081105094240.GA12201@thorin> References: <20081101123229.GA14438@thorin> <20081101190204.GB4639@thorin> <49109AB8.4010509@nic.fi> <20081104190751.GA25519@thorin> <49109EE7.6050406@nic.fi> <20081104193911.GA26419@thorin> <491143E2.4040705@t-online.de> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <491143E2.4040705@t-online.de> Organization: free as in freedom X-Message-Flag: Worried about Outlook viruses? Switch to Thunderbird! www.mozilla.com/thunderbird X-Debbugs-No-Ack: true User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.13 (2006-08-11) X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: Genre and OS details not recognized. Subject: Re: [PATCH] framework for building modules externally X-BeenThere: grub-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: The development of GRUB 2 List-Id: The development of GRUB 2 List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:07:53 -0000 On Wed, Nov 05, 2008 at 07:57:38AM +0100, Christian Franke wrote: > > Alternative: Export a symbol describing the ABI version in kernel > ("grub_abi_3_14"). That requires more bytes than a 32-bit integer. > Access this symbol in each module (this can be hidden > in GRUB_MOD_INIT). And this adds code in every module, but for non-external modules we already have reassurance that their abi is consistent (users should never bypass grub-install; if they do, it's likely going to break for them anyway). I understand there's a minor benefit for programmers of external modules, but both things are at the expense of extra size to kernel and core.img modules. External modules will only provide non-essential functionality, so it's not a problem they have to check the ABI IMHO. -- Robert Millan The DRM opt-in fallacy: "Your data belongs to us. We will decide when (and how) you may access your data; but nobody's threatening your freedom: we still allow you to remove your data and not access it at all."