Re: [PATCH] watchdog: Get rid of MODULE_ALIAS_MISCDEV statements

[Wim Van Sebroeck]

Hi Jean,

> I just can't find any value in MODULE_ALIAS_MISCDEV(WATCHDOG_MINOR)
> and MODULE_ALIAS_MISCDEV(TEMP_MINOR) statements.
> 
> Either the device is enumerated and the driver already has a module
> alias (e.g. PCI, USB etc.) that will get the right driver loaded
> automatically.
> 
> Or the device is not enumerated and loading its driver will lead to
> more or less intrusive hardware poking. Such hardware poking should be
> limited to a bare minimum, so the user should really decide which
> drivers should be tried and in what order. Trying them all in
> arbitrary order can't do any good.
> 
> On top of that, loading that many drivers at once bloats the kernel
> log. Also many drivers will stay loaded afterward, bloating the output
> of "lsmod" and wasting memory. Some modules (cs5535_mfgpt which gets
> loaded as a dependency) can't even be unloaded!
> 
> If defining char-major-10-130 is needed then it should happen in
> user-space.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Jean Delvare <jdelvare@xxxxxxx>
> Cc: Wim Van Sebroeck <wim@xxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Stephen Warren <swarren@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Mike Frysinger <vapier.adi@xxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Wan ZongShun <mcuos.com@xxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Ben Dooks <ben-linux@xxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Kukjin Kim <kgene.kim@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Zwane Mwaikambo <zwane@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Jim Cromie <jim.cromie@xxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Guenter Roeck <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

This patch has been added to linux-watchdog-next.
I also added the removal part for the new rt2880_wdt.c driver to it.

Kind regards,
Wim.

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