From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Matt Sealey Subject: Re: [PROBLEM + PATCH] Sata port disabled by BIOS gets initialized Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:31:07 +0100 Message-ID: <466EE66B.1040905@genesi-usa.com> References: <20056641.1181568752111.JavaMail.root@wombat.diezmil.com> <466D8C4C.8040605@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from mithrandir.softwarenexus.net ([66.98.186.96]:1105 "EHLO mail.genesi-usa.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1750771AbXFLTF1 (ORCPT ); Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:05:27 -0400 In-Reply-To: <466D8C4C.8040605@gmail.com> Sender: linux-ide-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org To: Tejun Heo Cc: shyam_iyer@dell.com, linux-ide@vger.kernel.org Tejun Heo wrote: > Hello, > >> If the user decides to disable the port through the BIOS, the driver >> needs to respect the user's wish to not use the port and carry on. >> Here the end result is a forceful reinitialization of the port by the >> driver against the user's wishes. > > Well, currently, the Linux driver policy is to exploit the hardware > capability to the maximum - e.g. we unlock HPA unconditionally and force > multi-mode controllers into its best possible mode. We try hard to > ignore BIOS imposed settings/limits. Isn't there a case for speeding up boot and not wasting resources by respecting BIOS settings in this regard? If you have an 8-port controller on a board and one disk, forcing all of them enabled regardless of BIOS settings is just 7 redundant port scans. It should at least be an option - the default being to open up all gunports, an option to respect BIOS settings and only use the ones requested and enabled.. (I can see an edge case where a user disables a disk in the BIOS to stop another OS from looking at/for it, but wants the Linux system to boot from it) -- Matt Sealey Genesi, Manager, Developer Relations