linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 1/1] drivers/misc: Add Intel System ID driver

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Date:   Wed, 1 Mar 2017 10:01:36 +0100
From:   Arnd Bergmann <arnd@...db.de>
To:     "Loh, Tien Hock" <tien.hock.loh@...el.com>
Cc:     "linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        "Nguyen, Dinh" <dinh.nguyen@...el.com>,
        "thloh85@...il.com" <thloh85@...il.com>,
        "gregkh@...uxfoundation.org" <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>,
        "Gerlach, Matthew" <matthew.gerlach@...el.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/1] drivers/misc: Add Intel System ID driver

On Wed, Mar 1, 2017 at 8:23 AM, Loh, Tien Hock <tien.hock.loh@...el.com> wrote:
> Arnd, Greg,

Please don't top-post.

> I checked the attributes returned by the soc attribute subsystem, but
> it seems that it is lacking something equivalent to timestamp in the
> Intel System ID controller. Do you think it is better to add a new
> attribute (named timestamp) to soc or create a new sysfs entry like
> what I did?

It depends on how common and how important this attribute is.

- if it's not overly important, just drop it entirely.
- if it's important enough that other SoCs are likely to have the same
  kind of information, make it a standard attribute
- if this SoC is most likely the only one that will ever need it, but it has
  important uses, I'd make it a custom attribute

Another option would be to fold the timestamp into the revision attribute,
but whether that is a reasonable place for it would in turn depend on
what the timestamp signifies.

Can you explain what the timestamp is used for? Does it identify the
time that the hardware revision was made, the time that a software
was built which was loaded into it, or something else?
What kind of user space application would need this information?

     Arnd