Re: [PATCH] 2.5.6-pre2 IDE cleanup 16

[Martin Dalecki <dalecki@evision-ventures.com>]

Vojtech Pavlik wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 05, 2002 at 04:42:33PM -0500, Jeff Garzik wrote:
> 
> 
>>>Note that taskfiles are not being removed from IDE. Just direct (and
>>>parsed and filtered) interface to userspace. Does the scsi midlayer
>>>export the SCBs directly to userspace?
>>>
>>It should.
>>
>>I think it's a mistake to remove the taskfile interface.
>>
>>It provides a way for people to directly validate the lowest level IDE
>>interface, without interference from upper layers.  It also provides
>>access to userspace for important features that -should not- be in the
>>kernel, like SMART monitoring and security features.
>>
> 
> Well, Martin promised to reimplement it better later if there is demand
> for it, and it seems there is. So I suppose it's going away only to be
> replaced by something better.
> 
> There was a flamewar about this some time ago - whether the kernel
> should or should not parse the taskfile access to prevent possibly
> dangerous commands sent to the drive - if this is to be used for
> validation, then all commands need to be allowed, which also will enable
> to thin the code considerably.

Please note that the code in question present currently there is
quite frankly not functional. And that's the main problem
with it - It's hard to guarantee proper functionality of
the mail functionality if there is something "catching it's eggs
from behind". Please note further that the excessive copying between
a variable called frequently args and the "task file"
register set just shows that the API the ide-taskfile is trying
to implement is not right. Further on the excessive command format
validation found in ide-taskfile.c is just too much of a burden.



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