linux-kernel - Re: rtl8821ae.

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Message-ID: <CA+55aFyHZfw9rtZQJ9i2p7MQAVX4iM0QCdzRZzaivD2nRDHeLQ@mail.gmail.com>
Date:	Mon, 3 Feb 2014 12:18:53 -0800
From:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
To:	Dan Carpenter <dan.carpenter@...cle.com>
Cc:	Larry Finger <Larry.Finger@...inger.net>,
	Stefan Lippers-Hollmann <s.L-H@....de>,
	Dave Jones <davej@...hat.com>,
	Andrea Merello <andrea.merello@...il.com>,
	Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>,
	Linux Wireless List <linux-wireless@...r.kernel.org>,
	Linux Kernel <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Linux Driver Project <devel@...uxdriverproject.org>
Subject: Re: rtl8821ae.

On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 12:12 PM, Dan Carpenter <dan.carpenter@...cle.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 03, 2014 at 11:05:42AM -0600, Larry Finger wrote:
>> A combined driver would require very many branches based on chip
>> number and would certainly execute much more slowly.
>
> I seriously doubt there are performance issues with merging the drivers.

Quite frankly, merging drivers can be a f*cking pain. I would
seriously suggest avoiding it *unless* the hardware is literally
almost identical, or the drivers have been written with multi-chip
support from the ground up by people who actually understood the
hardware.

But the reason isn't performance - it's subtle breakage. Merged
drivers have a tendency to break support for chip A when you fix
something for chip B. And the end result is a driver that nobody
understands, and nobody can sanely test.

Sometimes it's simply better to leave old drivers alone.

                  Linus
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