Re: [PATCH] 2.5.6-pre2 IDE cleanup 16

[Vojtech Pavlik <vojtech@suse.cz>]

On Tue, Mar 05, 2002 at 04:42:33PM -0500, Jeff Garzik wrote:

> > Note that taskfiles are not being removed from IDE. Just direct (and
> > parsed and filtered) interface to userspace. Does the scsi midlayer
> > export the SCBs directly to userspace?
> 
> It should.
> 
> I think it's a mistake to remove the taskfile interface.
> 
> It provides a way for people to directly validate the lowest level IDE
> interface, without interference from upper layers.  It also provides
> access to userspace for important features that -should not- be in the
> kernel, like SMART monitoring and security features.

Well, Martin promised to reimplement it better later if there is demand
for it, and it seems there is. So I suppose it's going away only to be
replaced by something better.

There was a flamewar about this some time ago - whether the kernel
should or should not parse the taskfile access to prevent possibly
dangerous commands sent to the drive - if this is to be used for
validation, then all commands need to be allowed, which also will enable
to thin the code considerably.

-- 
Vojtech Pavlik
SuSE Labs