Re: i8k: move driver from char to hwmon

[Pali RohÃr]

On Sunday 22 February 2015 18:33:16 Guenter Roeck wrote:
> On 02/22/2015 03:50 AM, Pali RohÃr wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > currently i8k driver for DELLDIAG SMM operations (charger,
> > battery, hotkeys, temperature and fan control) supports two
> > interfaces:
> > 
> > 1) old /proc/i8k char device
> > 2) new hwmon interface
> > 
> > Driver now lives in char subsystem, but nowadays I think lot
> > of people are interested only in hwmon interface which
> > provides temperature & fan control. Power management and
> > hotkeys support (which is missing in 2) but provided by 1))
> > is already handled by ACPI or input subsystem for new
> > laptops.
> > 
> > Also name "i8k" is really non intuitive what it means and
> > supports... (I was told it is abbreviation for Inspirion
> > 8000 model which was probably first dell model supported by
> > that DELLDIAG interface). Now driver is used on Vostro,
> > Latitude and also Precision and XPS models. I think at
> > least "dell" should be part of driver name and config
> > option.
> > 
> > So I have idea for some changes:
> > 
> > 1) Move driver from char subsystem to hwmon
> 
> I am ok with this one.
> 
> > 2) Rename driver from i8k to something like delldiag or
> > dellsmm
> 
> Might be problematic, as it would break existing
> configurations unless you keep the CONFIG_I8K but rename the
> driver. Driver names are never perfect, so I would just leave
> it as is.
> 
> > 3) Add new CONFIG_ option to enable/disable /proc/i8k device
> > and compile only hwmon interface support
> 
> Makes sense. I would suggest to make hwmon suppport the
> default and mandatory if the driver is enabled and add a new
> CONFIG_I8K_PROCIF or similar which should be enabled by
> default.
> 

What about CONFIG_DELLDIAG (or DELLSMM or CONFIG_SENSORS_*) for 
mandatory core & hwmon code and (keep existing) CONFIG_I8K for 
/proc/i8k?

> Are you interested in adding yourself as maintainer for this
> driver ?
> 

Ok I could. But I do not know how much time will have in future.

> Thanks,
> Guenter

-- 
Pali RohÃr
pali.rohar@xxxxxxxxx

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