linux-kernel - Re: [GIT pull] timer updates for 4.19

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Date:   Sun, 26 Aug 2018 10:13:00 -0700
From:   Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
To:     Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>, Arnd Bergmann <arnd@...db.de>
Cc:     Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        Ingo Molnar <mingo@...nel.org>, Christoph Hellwig <hch@....de>
Subject: Re: [GIT pull] timer updates for 4.19

On Sun, Aug 26, 2018 at 2:39 AM Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de> wrote:
>
> New defines for the compat time* types so they can be shared between 32bit
> and 64bit builds. Not used yet, but merging them now allows the actual
> conversions to be merged through different maintainer trees without
> dependencies

So I pulled this, then looked at it a bit more, and went "that's stupid".

Why introduce a completely useless new name for something we already have?

Why can't the 32-bit code just use the "compat" names instead? Even
for 32-bit systems, it's about compatibility with the old world order.

So what's the advantage of calling it "old" over just calling it "compat"?

I do not for a *second* believe that "compat" is somehow confusing to
32-bit architectures. They all have the new 64-bit time code already,
it's not like there is any confusion what-so-ever about what is going
on here.

The fact is, those 32-bit interfaces are FOR COMPATIBILITY with old
binaries. What the hell is confusing about that? No, the real
confusion would be to have yet another name for the same thing for no
good reason.

So I unpulled this. Somebody needs to convince me that this makes
sense, and no, "it's confusing" is not a convincing argument.

            Linus