linux-kernel - Re: [discuss] Re: 2.6.19-rc4: known unfixed regressions (v3)

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Date:	Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:56:00 -0500
From:	Jeff Garzik <jeff@...zik.org>
To:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...l.org>
CC:	Adrian Bunk <bunk@...sta.de>,
	Jeff Chua <jeff.chua.linux@...il.com>,
	Matthew Wilcox <matthew@....cx>, Andi Kleen <ak@...e.de>,
	Aaron Durbin <adurbin@...gle.com>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...l.org>,
	Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	gregkh@...e.de, linux-pci@...ey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz
Subject: Re: [discuss] Re: 2.6.19-rc4: known unfixed regressions (v3)

Linus Torvalds wrote:
> We really should stop using MMCONFIG entirely, until we have a 
> per-southbridge true knowledge of what the real decoding is. The BIOS 
> tables for this are simply too damn unreliable.

FWIW:  MMCONFIG is required for PCI domain support (or "PCI segments" as 
ACPI calls them).  Only a few mass market OEM boxes exist that need this 
-- and they are all pretty new (Opteron multi-core) -- but more are coming.

I have a patch in -mm that works for this.  Without the patch, my 
sata_mv card and the machine's built-in MPT-Fusion do not appear at all 
in PCI bus scans (nor do the associated hard drives) on this production 
HP box.  So far these machines are rare, /usually/ with a BIOS switch to 
turn off PCI domains.

This says nothing about BIOS table reliability, of course.  I agree that 
MMCONFIG probing is highly unreliable at present.  Whitelisting "<2007" 
systems like Andi proposed may be the only option in some cases.

	Jeff

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