Re: [PATCH 2.6.38.1] pata_it821x: Add module param to force UDMA on Vortex86SX

From: igor
Date: Sat Mar 26 2011 - 09:59:23 EST


On Sat, 26 Mar 2011 12:54:41 +0000, Alan Cox wrote:
May be there are errors with pure IDE devices or with older revisions
of Vortex86SX
boards, i do no know. But for my device i have 2x improvement in I/O
speed when
enabling UDMA/33 instead of MWDMA, so i think this parameter would be
useful.

"I do not know" is not a good basis for hacking storage code,
particularly if it was to turn out that the reason was something like
silent data corruption (eg as with UDMA on the old OSB4 controllers in
some cases)


Well, by "i do not know" i meant that i do not have other (older) DMP
hardware, nor do i have means to connect pure IDE device to my device
(DMP-2300).
I just can state that i was having a root FS on a CompactFlash for quite
a long time with UDMA enabled, and i have not observed any problems, and
have seen no signs of data corruption either.

I am just proposing to give users an option to enable UDMA at their own risk,
maybe add comment stating that enabling this option may or may not
cause silent data corruption. Or maybe to add this as a sub-option to the
driver in Kconfig to switch on/off at compile time with detailed description
under ---help---

The change came via DMP signoff (the manufacturer) so any adjustment of
this sort of checking really ought to go via DMP as well.

Also fix to initialize default value for parameter 'noraid'.

This does not need initialising - C guarantees static variables start at
zero. If that makes a difference you have other problems.

Sorry, my bad.

So NAK this.

Although if you want to take it up with DMP and find out if they have
updated rules or checks that want pushing that might be useful.

No, i do not intend to contact them, i just wanted people to have an on/off
switch in kernel, not to push this patch by all means necessary.

If this option is considered by community unneeded, i'll just have to patch my
own kernel with every upgrade :)

Alan

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