Re: [PATCH] platform/x86: dell-laptop: Guard SMBIOS calls with a mutex

[Darren Hart <dvhart@infradead.org>]

On Tue, Jan 30, 2018 at 05:39:58PM +0200, Andy Shevchenko wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 30, 2018 at 5:35 PM,  <Mario.Limonciello@dell.com> wrote:
> 
> >> >     dell_set_arguments(0x2, 0, 0, 0);
> >> >     ret = dell_send_request(CLASS_INFO, SELECT_RFKILL);
> >>
> >> Hi! I'm looking at this code, and do we need shared global buffer with
> >> mutex protection at all? Is not buffer allocated on stack enough?
> >
> > Oh you mean rather than create buffer mutex to just remove global
> > buffer and allocate in each function?  That seems like a workable
> > approach to me too.
> >
> > I'm fine with either way.
> >
> > Andy or Darren, what's your preference in this area?
> 
> It reminds me USB stuff where buffer for transfer is allocated on heap
> before performing communication.
> So, it looks similar to some extent and I have no objection on that
> kind of approach.

Late to the party it seems, but FWIW:

I don't see a significant advantage of a global buffer. It doesn't *need* to be
global, and the locking just adds complexity. The heap solution seems much
preferable to me.

-- 
Darren Hart
VMware Open Source Technology Center