Re: [PATCH] Remove p4_clockmode driver

[Dmitry Torokhov <dmitry.torokhov@gmail.com>]

Hi Dave,

On Sun, May 11, 2008 at 12:19:34PM -0400, Dave Jones wrote:
> On Sat, May 03, 2008 at 09:47:10PM +0200, Thomas Renninger wrote:
>  > Remove p4_clockmode driver
>  >
>  > The driver is doing throttling which is supposed to be done through another
>  > ACPI interface. If both interfaces are used, the machine may get very slow.
>  > Remove this driver which should never be used.
>  >
>  > Signed-off-by: Thomas Renninger <trenn@suse.de>
> 
> I agree this is long overdue being taken out back and shot.
> 
> Some thoughts though:
> 
> * Should we deprecate this for a release first ?
>   I'm torn over this, because I think no matter how long we do this for,
>   we're going to get people who claim to be surprised.
>   Though given this driver is 99% useless, perhaps just ripping it out
>   is for the best.
> 
> * Matthew Garrett mentioned something interesting this morning..
> 
> mjg59 | davej: On machines that don't support acpi throttling, I was under the impression that there was supposed to be a hook between the thermal code and cpufreq
> mjg59 | Which would then let p4-clockmod be kicked even if it's below the threshold at which the CPU would throttle itself
> davej | having that code expose T states rather than pretend to be P states is probably for the best.
> mjg59 | Yeah, true
> 
>   So whilst killing this off is probably the right thing to do, there may be
>   some value in parts of it living on in the ACPI code ?
> 
> I'll queue up this removal patch for linux-next, and we'll see if anyone screams.
> (I doubt it, given the amount of testing that gets right now. It'll probably
> not really get noticed until after it's in a Linus sanctioned release)
> 

AAAAAAA!</scream>

I am using p4_clockmod in attempt to keep my old P4-based box a bit
cooler. It does not support anything besides C0 (no P-states, no
throttling) so acpi-based driver does not work.

-- 
Dmitry