Re: [PATCH v2.2 2/2] dt-bindings: Adding compatible attribute for SKY81452 regulator

Gyungoh Yoo
2014-09-11T05:22:40Z

On Sat, Sep 06, 2014 at 03:38:28PM +0100, Mark Brown wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 05, 2014 at 10:55:07AM +0900, Gyungoh Yoo wrote:
> > On Mon, Sep 01, 2014 at 11:31:58AM +0100, Mark Brown wrote:
>
> > > Why is this a good idea - can this driver be used for anything other
> > > than a sky81452?
>
> > Yes. There is a possibility that this driver will be used by similar
> > device with SKY81452.
>
> OK, so tha was slightly the wrong question. What added information is
> forcing the user to create a subnode and specify a compatible string
> providing? This driver is specifying a block of multiple regulators
> with absolute register addresses hard coded into it, there's no real
> ability to use the driver in a different configuration here. As soon as
> we see the parent device we already know everything there is to know
> about the IP block, having a separate compatible string just forces the
> user to do more typing for no gain.

Thank you for your comments.

By the way,
I knew that compatible string is used for binding a driver.
http://devicetree.org/Device_Tree_Usage#Understanding_the_compatible_Property

And, from kernel 3.6, MFD core has a mechanism for binding of_node
to the driver with of_compatible.

Can I have a question about if it is possible to assign compatible string
for binding driver independently with reusability?

Thanks,
Gyungoh