linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 4/5] efi: Export Runtime Configuration Interface table to sysfs

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Date:   Tue, 1 Oct 2019 20:23:51 +0200
From:   Geert Uytterhoeven <geert@...ux-m68k.org>
To:     Narendra.K@...l.com
Cc:     Mario.Limonciello@...l.com,
        Ard Biesheuvel <ard.biesheuvel@...aro.org>,
        linux-efi <linux-efi@...r.kernel.org>,
        Ingo Molnar <mingo@...nel.org>,
        Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
        Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        James Morse <james.morse@....com>,
        Xiaofei Tan <tanxiaofei@...wei.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 4/5] efi: Export Runtime Configuration Interface table to sysfs

Hi Narendra,

On Tue, Oct 1, 2019 at 8:01 PM <Narendra.K@...l.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 01, 2019 at 01:20:46PM +0000, Limonciello, Mario wrote:
> [...]
> > > > > > > +config EFI_RCI2_TABLE
> > > > > > > +       bool "EFI Runtime Configuration Interface Table Version 2 Support"
> > > > > > > +       help
> > > > > > > +         Displays the content of the Runtime Configuration Interface
> > > > > > > +         Table version 2 on Dell EMC PowerEdge systems as a binary
> > > > > > > +         attribute 'rci2' under /sys/firmware/efi/tables directory.
> > > > > > > +
> > > > > > > +         RCI2 table contains BIOS HII in XML format and is used to populate
> > > > > > > +         BIOS setup page in Dell EMC OpenManage Server Administrator tool.
> > > > > > > +         The BIOS setup page contains BIOS tokens which can be configured.
> > > > > > > +
> > > > > > > +         Say Y here for Dell EMC PowerEdge systems.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > A quick Google search tells me these are Intel Xeon.
> > > > > > Are arm/arm64/ia64 variants available, too?
> > > > > > If not, this should be protected by "depends on x86" ("|| COMPILE_TEST"?).
> > > > >
> > > > > The code in question is entirely architecture agnostic, and defaults
> > > > > to 'n', so I am not convinced this is needed. (It came up in the
> > > > > review as well)
> > > >
> > > > "make oldconfig" still asks me the question on e.g. arm64, where it is
> > > > irrelevant, until arm64 variants of the hardware show up.
> > > >
> > > > So IMHO it should have "depends on X86 || COMPILE_TEST".
> > > >
> > >
> > > Fair enough. I am going to send out a bunch of EFI fixes this week, so
> > > I'll accept a patch that makes the change above.
> >
> > Is it really a problem to just say n?
> >
> > I think this seems like a needless change that would slow down adoption of
> > !x86 if Dell EMC PowerEdge systems did start going that route, especially
> > when it comes to distributions that move glacially slow with picking up new
> > kernel code.
>
> Hi Ard/Geert,
>
> Any additional thoughts here ?

Sure ;-)

A typical platform-specific sarm/arm64 .config file has almost 3000
config options
disabled.  Hence that means I have to say "n" almost 3000 times.
Fortunately I started doing this several years ago, so I can do this
incrementally ;-)

Perhaps someone should try to remove all lines like "depends on ... ||
COMPILE_TEST", run "make oldconfig", read all help texts before saying "n",
and time the whole operation...

I hope I managed to convince you of the benefits.
Thanks!

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

                        Geert

-- 
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@...ux-m68k.org

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
                                -- Linus Torvalds