Date:	Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:45:50 -0500
From:	Jeremy Katz <katzj@...hat.com>
To:	jordan@...micpenguin.net
Cc:	Pavel Machek <pavel@...e.cz>, Andres Salomon <dilinger@...ued.net>,
	Takashi Iwai <tiwai@...e.de>, Ingo Molnar <mingo@...e.hu>,
	Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
	Jordan Crouse <jordan.crouse@....com>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, dsaxena@...top.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] ALSA: cs5535audio: only build OLPC support if
	MGEODE_LX is defined

On Fri, 2008-11-14 at 10:34 -0700, Jordan Crouse wrote:
> Pavel Machek wrote:
> >>>> i've zapped this patch meanwhile:
> >>>>
> >>>>  1355c96: x86/olpc: make CONFIG_OLPC dependent on CONFIG_MGEODE_LX
> >>>>
> >>>> because it cripples the ability to run distribution kernels on the 
> >>>> OLPC.
> >>> OK, I reverted also all relevant changes for cs5535audio driver now.
> >>> The patches are saved in topic/cs5535audio branch, though.
> >>>
> >>> Let's fix OLPC-geode coupling first.
> >> Hm, I'd really rather prefer this to be upstream.  The patch I sent adds
> >> no regressions, allows the driver to happily coexist with existing
> >> stuff, and *does* add support if you configure OLPC with MGEODE_LX
> >> (generic kernels don't get the additional benefits, but those configured
> >> specifically for OLPC do).
> > 
> > Yes, but the patch is also not a good way of going forward, so it
> > should not be in mainline.
> 
> For the moment, this is a reasonable intermediate solution.  I think the 
> way forward will involve a great deal more work.

It's the work that should have been done from the beginning.  And once
code is upstream, the motivation to make things "correct" drops

> The driver does need to be able to twiddle the GPIO pins, and the GPIO 
> pins are unique to the CS5536.  In the past, the CS5536 has been only 
> associated with the Geode, and 99.99% of the kernel users in the world 
> don't need Geode, so it make sense to omit specific code of this nature.
> As you might expect, I'm not in the "you should be able to run an 
> arbitrary kernel on the XO" crowd.

That's nice.  But if the XO is to be more than just an embedded platform
working in its own world, then being able to run kernels other than from
your git tree is extremely important.

> That said, its clear that people are interested in doing so - so a 
> change needs to be made.  The immediate option is to turn on Geode 
> support for all x86 kernels, but thats a few extra K in the kernel 
> binary that nobody needs.  So we'll have to go modular.

Modular is nice, but I'm not 100% sure it's required (see below)...

> I talked to Andres about this yesterday.  The immediately obvious 
> solution would be to port the Geode GPIO support into the existing GPIO 
> subsystem.  

This would be a great first step!

> That is attractive, but it omits some of the other Geode 
> goodness that might be of interest to a "standard kernel" not configured 
> for MGEODE_LX (such as the Geode watchdog timer).  So, I think we should 
> move most of the Geode code into a support module and remove MGEODE_LX 
> checks in most places.  The distributions can build the module and put 
> it in the file system, and serious Geode users such as OLPC can build it 
> in to the kernel binary.

This also sounds like good steps.  One thing to think about is if
there's any sort of dmi matching that can be done to autoload if things
are built modular since distros are trying to get udev loading things
automatically without any need for magic scripts  And most of the clock
sources are already not able to be built modular

> Also, while we are at it, we should be more specific and rename the 
> hooks from geode_ to cs5536_, since there will soon be a system in the 
> wild with a MIPS processor and a CS5536.
> 
> But needless to say, this will be a goodly amount of work and churn that 
> will need some heavy testing in the OLPC kernel.  In the meantime, 
> Andres' fix will make the upstream kernel happier.

It is work, but I'm not sure it's huge amounts.  And by doing it
*upstream first*, you benefit from the feedback and testing of the wider
community.  Development of things in a silo is what tends to lead to
these sorts of threads :/

Jeremy

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