Re: Reexport init_mm ?

From: Chris Snook
Date: Fri Feb 29 2008 - 13:02:47 EST


Ioan Ionita wrote:
On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 9:23 AM, Chris Snook <csnook@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
drago01 wrote:
> init_mm is no longer exported in 2.6.25, because there are no in tree
> modules that use it.
> But the closed sources nvidia drivers are using it.
> Is it possible to reexport this symbol to let the driver work with this kernel?

The fact that there are no in-tree modules that use init_mm is rather
compelling evidence that it's not a necessary part of the kernel module
API. Nvidia needs to fix their code. If this is a burden, perhaps they
should publish their code under a GPLv2-compatible license so we can
show them how to do it.

Publish it and get it merged so you'd have no choice but to keep the
symbol exported in the first place?

High-performance graphics developers are pretty much the last people on earth I want to see writing code that calls init_mm. These people patent their bugs, rather than fixing them, when they turn out to make things go a little faster and generate "mostly correct" results. I think we have a lot to teach them about kernel driver development, including how to get by without init_mm being exported.

-- Chris

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