From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Jeff Garzik Subject: Re: new tool: blktool Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 13:57:10 -0400 Sender: linux-ide-owner@vger.kernel.org Message-ID: <4124E9F6.6030000@pobox.com> References: <411FD744.2090308@pobox.com> <4120E693.8070700@pobox.com> <4124C135.7050200@rtr.ca> <200408191751.19101.bzolnier@elka.pw.edu.pl> <4124E701.5020905@rtr.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk ([195.92.249.252]:26043 "EHLO www.linux.org.uk") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S266901AbUHSR5Z (ORCPT ); Thu, 19 Aug 2004 13:57:25 -0400 In-Reply-To: <4124E701.5020905@rtr.ca> List-Id: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org To: Mark Lord Cc: Bartlomiej Zolnierkiewicz , Linux Kernel , "linux-ide@vger.kernel.org" Mark Lord wrote: > Simply dropping HDIO_DRIVE_CMD/HDIO_DRIVE_TASK into there would > immediately gain full compatibility with the existing toolsets, > and give some time for a newer scheme to be rolled out in the > kernel, the tools, and ultimately all of the various distros. Addendum: don't misunderstand my other emails, I do agree with what you're saying above. But random thoughts (some of which conflict with each other): * In Linux we want to keep ancient userland binaries working for as long as possible. * I don't mind HDIO_DRIVE_TASK nearly as much as HDIO_DRIVE_CMD, since the command protocol is available. But if I give in and decide that a command opcode->protocol lookup table is inevitable for supporting legacy interface, then I might as well implement both HDIO_DRIVE_TASK and HDIO_DRIVE_CMD. * OTOH, this is an excellent opportunity to _not_ implement these ioctls, if an obviously-better interface is available. Since libata and SATA are new drivers using new interfaces, it's not difficult to move things to new interfaces. * And it's not a big deal to update blktool and hdparm to use to send ATA taskfiles, rather than existing HDIO_DRIVE_xxx. (that leaves only existing applications)