Re: [PATCH] /proc/sys/kernel/pointer_size

Linus Torvalds
2003-01-08T20:24:32Z

On Wed, 8 Jan 2003, John Levon wrote:
>
> OProfile needs to know the pointer size being used for the kernel,
> on platforms with 32-bit userspace and 64-bit kernel. This patch adds
> a simple ro sysctl that exports this information as suggested by davem

No.

This is the kind of stupid bloat I do not want. The kernel pointer size
doesn't change suddenly on the machine, there's no point at all in doing
something like this and exporting it through proc, when the information is
perfectly available in other ways or could even be a user program config
file option.

There is _no_ excuse for a program asking for what the kernel pointer size
is. Adding a random /proc file just because it's easy is not a good idea.
Bloat is bloat, and 99% of all bloat comes one little feature at a time.

Quite frankly, just compile oprofile for the architecture and be done with
it. Or add a command line option. Don't add stupid bloat to the kernel
because somebody is silly enough to care about a 32-bit oprofile working
with a 64-bit kernel.

Linus