linux-kernel - Re: ACPI_WMI: worst config description of all times

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Message-Id: <200802080119.08872.carlos@strangeworlds.co.uk>
Date:	Fri, 8 Feb 2008 01:19:07 +0000
From:	Carlos Corbacho <carlos@...angeworlds.co.uk>
To:	"Ray Lee" <ray-lk@...rabbit.org>
Cc:	"Pavel Machek" <pavel@....cz>, "Len Brown" <lenb@...nel.org>,
	"kernel list" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	"Linux-pm mailing list" <linux-pm@...ts.osdl.org>,
	linux-acpi@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: ACPI_WMI: worst config description of all times

On Friday 08 February 2008 00:12:24 Ray Lee wrote:
> On Feb 7, 2008 3:51 PM, Carlos Corbacho <carlos@...angeworlds.co.uk> wrote:
> > On Thursday 07 February 2008 23:33:54 Ray Lee wrote:
> > > Do you have list of hardware/platforms that require this feature to
> > > get the hardware to work? (acer abc123, tcm1100 xyz)
> >
> > I have a very long list of Acer laptops that are supported - which is far
> > too long, and changes on far too much of a regular basis to put in there.
> >
> > Perhaps adding something like "This driver is also a required dependency
> > to build the firmware specific drivers needed for many laptops, including
> > Acer and HP machines"?

Would this be acceptable then?

-Carlos
---
ACPI: WMI: Improve Kconfig entry

From: Carlos Corbacho <carlos@...angeworlds.co.uk>

As Pavel Machek has pointed out, the Kconfig entry for WMI is pretty
non-descriptive.

Rewrite it so that it explains what ACPI-WMI is, and why anyone
would want to enable it.

Many thanks to Ray Lee for ideas on this.

Signed-off-by: Carlos Corbacho <carlos@...angeworlds.co.uk>
CC: Pavel Machek <pavel@....cz>
CC: Ray Lee <ray-lk@...rabbit.org>
CC: Len Brown <lenb@...nel.org>
---

 drivers/acpi/Kconfig |   19 +++++++++++++++----
 1 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)


diff --git a/drivers/acpi/Kconfig b/drivers/acpi/Kconfig
index b7fbf16..ea763ef 100644
--- a/drivers/acpi/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/acpi/Kconfig
@@ -207,11 +207,22 @@ config ACPI_WMI
 	depends on EXPERIMENTAL
 	depends on X86
 	help
-	  This driver adds support for the ACPI-WMI mapper device (PNP0C14)
-	  found on some systems.
+	  This driver adds support for the ACPI-WMI (Windows Management
+	  Instrumentation) mapper device (PNP0C14) found on some systems.
 
-	  NOTE: You will need another driver or userspace application on top of
-	  this to actually use anything defined in the ACPI-WMI mapper.
+	  ACPI-WMI is a proprietary extension to ACPI to expose parts of the
+	  ACPI firmware to userspace - this is done through various vendor
+	  defined methods and data blocks in a PNP0C14 device, which are then
+	  made available for userspace to call.
+
+	  The implementation of this in Linux currently only exposes this to
+	  other kernel space drivers.
+
+	  This driver is a required dependency to build the firmware specific
+	  drivers needed on many machines, including Acer and HP laptops.
+
+	  It is safe to enable this driver even if your DSDT doesn't define
+	  any ACPI-WMI devices.
 
 config ACPI_ASUS
         tristate "ASUS/Medion Laptop Extras"
--
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