Re: [PATCH] neofb patches

[Benjamin Herrenschmidt <benh@kernel.crashing.org>]

> That's another thing I'm adding to my kernel.  I didn't mention it as 
> I'm still trying to nail down a few details.  My current experiment is 
> that I've made device number 5,255 for now (later I'm either going to 
> make it 5,0 or just make fb0 point to it but that's one of the things 
> I'm debating) and call it just fb (for now).  Now when a user opens this 
> fb it will figure out what console they're on and refuse to run if it's 
> they're not on a physical console (unless fbcon is not compiled then it 
> will default to fb0 - these are the details I'm working on).

Hrm... I'm not fully confortable with this. I don't see why we need
anything different but what we had today.

> Now if the user really wants to start something from a serial console or 
> even a ssh session for that matter they can just use an explicit frame 
> buffer device like fb0, fb1, etc.  These would then be root only for 
> example.

Nah, software like X, MacOnLinux, etc... should open a VT and trigger a
console switch. Or at least switch to KD_GRAPHICS if they don't, but
then, having a user doing that to your console is only a matter of
setting the proper permissions. Again, I don't see what problem you
are trying to solve.

> An added bonus is that if you have multiple video cards or a dual head 
> configuration with each head on a different fbx device the 5,255 device 
> would figure out which console you are on when you start the program and 
> use the appropriate fb device.  Once the radeon dual head code gets 
> written I'll have to try to start X on fb0 (head 1) and leave the fbcon 
> running on fb1 (head two).
> 
> But this is just a fun little experiment on my part.  If I succeed I'll 
> let everyone know.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Benjamin Herrenschmidt <benh@kernel.crashing.org>



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