Re: Cosmetic JFFS patch.

Jeff Garzik
2001-06-28T19:31:01Z

Gerhard Mack wrote:
>
> On Thu, 28 Jun 2001, Jeff Garzik wrote:
>
> > Linus Torvalds wrote:
> > > Things like version strings etc sound useful, but the fact is that the
> > > only _real_ problem it has ever solved for anybody is when somebody thinks
> > > they install a new kernel, and forgets to run "lilo" or something. But
> > > even that information you really get from a simple "uname -a".
> > >
> > > Do we care that when you boot kernel-2.4.5 you get "net-3"? No. Do we care
> > > that we have quota version "dquot_6.4.0"? No. Do we want to get the
> > > version printed for every single driver we load? No.
> > >
> > > If people care about version printing, it (a) only makes sense for modules
> > > and (b) should therefore maybe be done by the module loader. And modules
> > > already have the MODULE_DESCRIPTION() thing, so they should NOT printk it
> > > on their own. modprobe can do it if it wants to.
> >
> > As Alan said, driver versions are incredibly useful. People use update
> > their drivers over top of kernel drivers all the time. Vendors do it
> > too. "Run dmesg and e-mail me the output" is 1000 times more simple for
> > end users.
>
> Why not a generic way to query the drivers for version info from
> userspace?

For NICs at least, there's already a generic way... :)

Sigh, in my technically correct heart I know putting driver versions in
dmesg is probably not the best thing, but it makes support -so- -much-
easier that I am not inclined to change the existing code.

FWIW, all the NIC drivers I mess with (most originated from Becker)
should print out:

<one line version>
eth0: short product name, base addr, MAC addr, irq
eth1: ...
eth2: ...

I grant you there are tons of exceptions even in NIC drivers, but that
is the goal I am striving for. One line version, plus one line per
registered netif.

FWIW I find usb and parport messages exceptionally verbose, but some of
that is probably related to KERN_DEBUG being set in the bootloader or
kernel/printk.c or somewhere...

Jeff

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