RE: Do we still need the scsi IPR driver ?

[Brian King <brking@linux.vnet.ibm.com>]

On 3/10/23 3:56 AM, John Garry wrote:
> On 13/10/2022 04:36, Brian King wrote:
>>>> I've made some progress. I was able to dig up the code to move ipr to use error_handler
>>>> and have gotten it to compile, but haven't gotten to trying it in the lab yet.
>>>>
>>> Hmm. In which machines can I find an IPR installed? I could go hunting in our lab, maybe I can locate one and aid testing/development ...
>> Any Power 9 or older generation PowerVM based system would have an IPR installed as the boot device.
>> Additionally, on Power 10 systems, ipr SAS controllers are available as an add in card.
>>
>> However, the SATA support in ipr was only used to attach the onboard SATA DVD. Power 8 systems were
>> the last generation of systems that had an onboard SATA DVD. So, to do any testing with a
>> SATA DVD, you'd need a Power 8 or older system.
>>
>> Right now I have a patch that removes the SATA support from ipr completely and a patch that changes
>> to use the error_handler libata support. The one that changes to use the error_handler libata API
>> adds a bit of complexity for a function that should have few or no users that would need this support
>> on a current upstream kernel, since only Power 8 and older systems use this support. I'm getting
>> a system setup to try out both patches, but at this point I'm leaning towards the patch that
>> removes the libata dependency from ipr.
> 
> Hi Brian,
> 
> I was just wondering did you ever get to test these patches you mention? Or any other update on this topic?

Yes. I've been running both patches in the lab. I'm still leaning towards the patch that just
removes the libata dependency from ipr, since that is the simpler patch. I'll try to get something sent
out soon.

Thanks,

Brian


-- 
Brian King
Power Linux I/O
IBM Linux Technology Center