linux-kernel - RE: [PATCH 1/2] mtdpart: memory accessor interface for MTD layer

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Date:	Wed, 4 Aug 2010 03:31:45 -0700 (PDT)
From:	David Brownell <david-b@...bell.net>
To:	David Woodhouse <dwmw2@...radead.org>
Cc:	'Kevin Hilman' <khilman@...prootsystems.com>,
	Sudhakar Rajashekhara <sudhakar.raj@...com>,
	'Bernd Schmidt' <bernd.schmidt@...log.com>,
	'Nicolas Pitre' <nico@...xnic.net>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	'David Howells' <dhowells@...hat.com>,
	'David Brownell' <dbrownell@...rs.sourceforge.net>,
	linux-mtd@...ts.infradead.org,
	'Andrew Morton' <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>
Subject: RE: [PATCH 1/2] mtdpart: memory accessor interface for MTD layer

--- On Wed, 8/4/10, David Woodhouse <dwmw2@...radead.org> wrote:
> On Wed, 2010-07-07 at 04:08 -0700,
> David Brownell wrote:
> > 
> > I think the short answer is that the callout is
> > what provides the board drivers enough information
> > to make the correct calls. 

EMPHASIS ON "CORRECT" ...

> I don't see how.
> 
> The only information it passes to the callout is the
> information it was
> already *given* in the partition structure.

There can be multiple such structures, each
of which describes different data to be extracted
from different persistent media contexts.

Examples:  one context holds one MAC address (and
another, a different one) ... another might embed
calibration data; another, serial numbers; etc.

Pass the wrong context around, you've trashed all
the data instead of getting it right.

> I'm more inclined to believe Sudhakar's claim that you'll
> get an
> 'initialization sequence problem', although I'm not sure I
> believe it
> can't be solved in a better way than this.

"Initialization sequence" is a grab-bag category
that covers most init issues.

Point is to ensure that enough of the right context
information is available to initialize correctly.
So the right data is extracted and passed on.

> 
> I'm also unhappy that it only works on partitioned devices
> -- that seems wrong.

Very different issue.  Seems easily fixable
if needed.  Agreed that e.g. EEPROMS won't
often be partitioned (unlike flash).

--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/