From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from e32.co.us.ibm.com (e32.co.us.ibm.com [32.97.110.150]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "e32.co.us.ibm.com", Issuer "Equifax" (verified OK)) by ozlabs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C5D17DDED6 for ; Tue, 17 Apr 2007 03:04:06 +1000 (EST) Received: from d03relay02.boulder.ibm.com (d03relay02.boulder.ibm.com [9.17.195.227]) by e32.co.us.ibm.com (8.12.11.20060308/8.13.8) with ESMTP id l3GH1Oop030786 for ; Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:01:24 -0400 Received: from d03av04.boulder.ibm.com (d03av04.boulder.ibm.com [9.17.195.170]) by d03relay02.boulder.ibm.com (8.13.8/8.13.8/NCO v8.3) with ESMTP id l3GH414g111152 for ; Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:04:01 -0600 Received: from d03av04.boulder.ibm.com (loopback [127.0.0.1]) by d03av04.boulder.ibm.com (8.12.11.20060308/8.13.3) with ESMTP id l3GH3iuX025125 for ; Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:03:45 -0600 Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 12:03:28 -0500 To: Milton Miller Subject: Re: [PATCH] hvc_console polling mode timer backoff Message-ID: <20070416170328.GD8281@austin.ibm.com> References: <1176450459.4734.32.camel@concordia.ozlabs.ibm.com> <97762565fcdccbf85d1d04cd055b1197@bga.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii In-Reply-To: <97762565fcdccbf85d1d04cd055b1197@bga.com> From: linas@austin.ibm.com (Linas Vepstas) Cc: Olof Johansson , ppcdev List-Id: Linux on PowerPC Developers Mail List List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , On Sat, Apr 14, 2007 at 02:42:02PM -0500, Milton Miller wrote: > > Did you consider making MAX_TIMEOUT a module parameter? It could then > be changed at runtime through /sys/modules/. There's a philosophy (that I have warmed up to over time) that says that too much kernel configurability is a bad thing. Less configurability makes problems easier to debug: you don't have to worry about: -- bugs that occur for only certain parameter settings -- some dang-fool user/sysadmin setting the timout to 1000 seconds (mistaking seconds for milliseconds) and then reporting a bug. -- the latest fedora core having some udev script that finds the hvc console and slaps some crazy values into it. Surely, we have all known that bright-eyed, bushy-tailed developer who, when they ask you for help with a bug, your first questions are "did you mess with it?" and "which part did you mess with?" --linas