From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1754131AbYKNDG2 (ORCPT ); Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:06:28 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1751278AbYKNDGT (ORCPT ); Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:06:19 -0500 Received: from relay2.sgi.com ([192.48.179.30]:39523 "EHLO relay.sgi.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751143AbYKNDGS (ORCPT ); Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:06:18 -0500 Message-ID: <491CEB23.80403@sgi.com> Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:06:11 -0800 From: Mike Travis User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.6 (X11/20070801) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: David Miller CC: paulus@samba.org, akpm@linux-foundation.org, yinghai@kernel.org, mingo@elte.hu, tglx@linutronix.de, hpa@zytor.com, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [PATCH] sparse_irq aka dyn_irq v13 References: <491CC310.3050807@sgi.com> <20081113.162144.155677034.davem@davemloft.net> <491CC8D7.7030306@sgi.com> <20081113.183747.184760657.davem@davemloft.net> In-Reply-To: <20081113.183747.184760657.davem@davemloft.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org David Miller wrote: > Practicality is what really matters. > > We can even make the constant number a config option, so that if > someone has a system that actually triggers past this limit even dist > vendors can simply bump the config option value. Unfortunately the reality is that distros spend months certifying the base kernel for both application and security conformance. And many (most?) of the large system customers will only run this kernel. Even changing root startup options is considered invalidating the conformance testing. That means the kernel has to adapt to the resource needs of the system being serviced. Ideally, linux shouldn't have any fixed resources. A system built to run on a massively parallel system should also boot and run on a smart phone (not well perhaps... ;-)