Re: 2.6.17-mm6

From: Jeff Garzik
Date: Fri Jul 07 2006 - 13:12:46 EST


Alan Cox wrote:
Also its dangerous to assume "pata_*" is a PATA driver, it may be SATA
with a bridge chip, and in some cases like the ATI this is quite common.

Incorrect; what you describe is the core assumption underlying the "ata_", "pata_", and "sata_" prefixes.

If the user can attached PATA and SATA devices to a controller, its prefix is ata_
If the user can only attach PATA devices, its prefix is pata_
If the user can only attach SATA devices, its prefix is sata_
For the purposes of this convention, user-attached bridges such as PATA<->SATA bridges, are ignored.

Most older controllers always fall into pata_, most newer into sata_, and an odd few ata_

Its a bug if you don't help maintain these assumptions :)

Jeff


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