linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 1/3] x86, intel: Output microcode revision

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Message-ID: <20110525193601.GE17864@elte.hu>
Date:	Wed, 25 May 2011 21:36:01 +0200
From:	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...e.hu>
To:	Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@....eng.br>
Cc:	Andi Kleen <ak@...ux.intel.com>, Andi Kleen <andi@...stfloor.org>,
	x86@...nel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	Borislav Petkov <bp@...en8.de>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/3] x86, intel: Output microcode revision


* Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@....eng.br> wrote:

> On Wed, 25 May 2011, Ingo Molnar wrote:
> >
> > So displaying a non-fatal 'info' message about it would in fact 
> > be rather wise. Nothing scary, but we'd like to be informed.
> 
> A printk with levels info or notice, I do agree to be a good idea.  
> In fact, I like the idea a lot.
> 
> WARN() and kernel tainting, which is what I understand was being 
> proposed before, I cannot agree with.

Yeah, the taint is probably overdoing it - especially considering 
that mixing certain steppings is explicitly supported.

> OTOH, IMO mismatched microcode should be grounds for more serious 
> measures. And that includes fixing the annoying userspace ABI that 
> encourages bad behaviour in the first place and makes it harder to 
> do the proper thing.

Well, a problem the microcode driver has is that it needs that 
microcode blob. So we cannot really load it right at bootup (unless 
we promote the image to the initrd - somewhat hairy).

Thanks,

	Ingo
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