Re: [PATCH v2] hwmon: Update Documentation/hwmon/sysfs-interface

Jean Delvare
2007-09-17T17:25:27Z

Hi Darrick,

On Fri, 14 Sep 2007 12:29:24 -0700, Darrick J. Wong wrote:
> Update the hwmon sysfs interface documentation to include a specification
> for power meters.

Thanks for the update. I have some more comments. And sorry if it looks
like nitpicking, but this is a standard interface we're defining so we
better make sure that we get it right.

First of all, please think of a better subject line for this patch.
"Update Documentation/hwmon/sysfs-interface" is too vague when your
patch is rather specific.

> Signed-off-by: Darrick J. Wong <djwong@us.ibm.com>
> ---
>
> Documentation/hwmon/sysfs-interface | 30 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 1 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/hwmon/sysfs-interface b/Documentation/hwmon/sysfs-interface
> index db7bb4a..5c98bee 100644
> --- a/Documentation/hwmon/sysfs-interface
> +++ b/Documentation/hwmon/sysfs-interface
> @@ -324,6 +324,36 @@ curr[1-*]_input Current input value
> Unit: milliampere
> RO
>
> +*********
> +* Power *
> +*********
> +
> +power[1-*]_average Average power use
> + Unit: microWatt
> + RO
> +
> +power[1-*]_average_highest Historical average maximum power use
> + Unit: microWatt
> + RO
> +
> +power[1-*]_average_lowest Historical average minimum power use
> + Unit: microWatt
> + RO

How useful are historical extremes of an average?

> +
> +power[1-*]_input Instantaneous power use
> + Unit: microWatt
> + RO
> +
> +power[1-*]_input_highest Historical maximum power use
> + Unit: microWatt
> + RO
> +
> +power[1-*]_input_lowest Historical minimum power use
> + Unit: microWatt
> + RO
> +
> +power[1-*]_high_low_reset Reset input_highest/input_lowest.
> + WO

I don't much like this name. It sounds like a name crafted for the
specific feature of a given chip, while we try to use generic names for
the standard interface. I would rather go for power[1-*]_reset_history
if we have a single file for resetting all the extremes of a given
channel, or power[1-*]_input_lowest_reset and
power[1-*]_input_highest_reset if we go for a per-value reset.

Alternatively, we could simply make the power[1-*]_input_lowest and
power[1-*]_input_highest files writable, and "cat power1_input >
power1_input_lowest" (or any write?) would reset the history.

>
> **********
> * Alarms *

Thanks,
--
Jean Delvare