linux-kernel - Re: [Patch] IBM Real-Time "SMI Free" mode driver -v7

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]

Message-ID: <20101021143821.GB8754@lucy>
Date:	Thu, 21 Oct 2010 07:38:21 -0700
From:	Vernon Mauery <vernux@...ibm.com>
To:	Matthew Garrett <mjg59@...f.ucam.org>
Cc:	Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@...otime.net>,
	Linux Documentation <linux-doc@...r.kernel.org>,
	Platform driver x86 <platform-driver-x86@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [Patch] IBM Real-Time "SMI Free" mode driver -v7

On 21-Oct-2010 03:25 PM, Matthew Garrett wrote:
>On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 07:23:19AM -0700, Vernon Mauery wrote:
>> On 21-Oct-2010 02:54 PM, Matthew Garrett wrote:
>>> Applied, thanks. It'd be nice if we didn't have to rely on DMI,
>>> especially since enterprise customers often end up running later kernels
>>
>> I am not sure what you mean here by problems with DMI running later
>> kernels.
>
>Oops, sorry! I mean running on older kernels.

Do older kernels not have DMI support?  I would think that if an 
enterprise distribution wanted this driver they would likely already 
have DMI support backported as well.

Or they can work with me to find a way that works in that kernel.  I was 
thinking that in the current (and future) kernel, DMI was the best way 
to go.

>>> - is there any other way to determine that this is safe to load? Could
>>
>> I can't think of anything off the top of my head that would allow us to
>> ensure that this is only loaded on IBM systems.  DMI is pretty good
>> about that.
>
>I'd suggest using DMI to verify that it's an IBM, and perhaps also using
>DMI to check that it's a server or blade rather than a laptop or
>desktop. After that you could just check the ebda rather than having to
>have an entry for every specific machine.

I went for a better safe than sorry route.  Before I added the DMI 
checking I had some reports of this getting loaded on non-IBM hardware 
and it came up with some nasty error messages.  I figured since I knew 
exactly which platforms have support, I could just limit the driver to 
those.  Then there is the force parameter that allows a user to ignore 
the DMI data and try to load the driver anyway.

--Vernon
--
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/