From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Thu, 20 Sep 2001 19:26:28 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Thu, 20 Sep 2001 19:26:18 -0400 Received: from hermes.toad.net ([162.33.130.251]:63905 "EHLO hermes.toad.net") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Thu, 20 Sep 2001 19:26:04 -0400 Message-ID: <3BAA7AFC.49CEFB5D@yahoo.co.uk> Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 19:25:48 -0400 From: Thomas Hood X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.77 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.4.9-ac10 i686) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Problem: PnP BIOS driver reports outdated information Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org The PnP BIOS interface driver builds a device list, including resource information for each device, at init time. Other drivers search this list using pnpbios_find_device(). The problem is that the information in the device list may be out of date if setpnp has been used. Perhaps it will be said that setpnp is a "debugging tool" and ordinarily one shouldn't change resource assignments, but setpnp is useful for more than debugging. E.g., with current kernels it is necessary for me to run setpnp during the boot sequence in order to set up certain devices properly. Sometimes, also, there aren't enough IRQs to go around, and one may use setpnp to disable and enable different devices. Thus I think that the PnP BIOS driver needs to be fixed so that it will use and report the correct (current) resource values. Looking at the code, I see no reason why there needs to be a device list at all. Functions such as pnpbios_find_device() could just as well scan through device info returned (fresh) by the PnP BIOS. I don't think speed is a big issue here. Are there other reasons for maintaining a device list in the driver? -- Thomas Hood jdthood_AT_yahoo.co.uk