Re: [GIT PULL] omap changes for v2.6.39 merge window

From: Alexander Holler
Date: Thu Mar 31 2011 - 14:10:23 EST


Hello,

Am 31.03.2011 10:09, schrieb Russell King - ARM Linux:

We also need the various SoC designers and ARM architecture people to
realise that what the hardware situation is rediculous; I have commented
about this lack of standardisation to ARM in past years. ARM have had
a standard set of peripherals for ten years, but the SoC people haven't
really taken them up - and when they do, they seem to always introduce
their own tweaks, sometimes with no way to detect those tweaks.

As a user of several ARM boards I fully agree. I've come to the conclusion that if device tree or something similiar won't come up, which offers a vendor independent description of the hardware, the ARM market (at least with Linux as an OS) won't function. It's already almost impossible to update an old vendor kernel to a mainline kernel version without having schematics. Up to now this isn't a big problem because most ARM-HW people are playing with are developer boards, but thats already changing and more and more stuff will come without schematics.
And without the help of something like the x86 BIOS (or DT for ARM) you are just lost using an ARM-HW where you don't have the schematics, when you don't want to use the vendor provided kernel sources (for which you almost never get e.g. any security fixes). Finding all the small knobs to turn out of vendor provided kernel sources is a pain and just a waste of time you almost never can't finish before the HW in question got obsolete.

Just my 2Â on that topic from a somewhat user point of view from one who isn't really involved that much in kernel development.

At least I find such a rant from Linus from time to time a good thing. Sometimes it helps if someone speaks out loud whats wrong. And if Linus wouldn't be that one, who else would be courageous enough to do that? I wouldn't (and I can't, I have to thank all kernel developers for their hard work).

Regards,

Alexander

--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/