Re: [PATCH] prevent module unloading for legacy IDE chipset drivers

[Erik Mouw <erik@harddisk-recovery.com>]

On Mon, Apr 26, 2004 at 04:50:40PM +0200, Bartlomiej Zolnierkiewicz wrote:
> BTW I think there is a common misunderstanding about libata:
>     it will not replace IDE drivers any time soon.
> 
> I want to rewrite+merge current IDE code with libata during 2.7
> (and yes, legacy naming and ordering will be preserved!).
> 
> I hope nobody starts rewriting existing IDE drivers for libata and pushing
> them upstream -> it will mean maintenance problems much bigger than OSS+ALSA.

I don't think it's bad to have two drivers for the same hardware. We've
seen that with the USB UHCI host controller, RTL 8139, Intel e100,
Adaptec aic7xxx, NCR/Symbios sym53c8x. Having two drivers makes it easy
for people to switch. The difference with OSS+ALSA is that the drivers
I just mentioned have been "developed" in the tree, while ALSA was
developed outside the tree.

> However writing _new_ libata driver for 'exotic' PATA hardware is OK.

Is AMD 760/762 (amd74xx driver) considered "exotic"? ;-)


Erik

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