Re: [PATCH v2 2/2] platform/x86: dell-*wmi*: Relay failed initial probe to dependent drivers

[Darren Hart]

On Thu, Nov 09, 2017 at 11:49:10AM -0600, Mario Limonciello wrote:
> dell-wmi and dell-smbios-wmi are dependent upon dell-wmi-descriptor
> finishing probe successfully to probe themselves.
> 
> Currently if dell-wmi-descriptor fails probing in a non-recoverable way
> (such as invalid header) dell-wmi and dell-smbios-wmi will continue to
> try to redo probing due to deferred probing.
> 
> To solve this have the dependent drivers query the dell-wmi-descriptor
> driver whether the descriptor has been determined valid. The possible
> results are:
> -ENODEV: Descriptor GUID missing from WMI bus
> -EPROBE_DEFER: Descriptor not yet probed, dependent driver should wait
>  and use deferred probing
> < 0: Descriptor probed, invalid.  Dependent driver should return an
>  error.
> 0: Successful descriptor probe, dependent driver can continue
> 
> Successful descriptor probe still doesn't mean that the descriptor driver
> is necessarily bound at the time of initialization of dependent driver.
> Userspace can unbind the driver, so all methods used from driver
> should still be verified to return success values otherwise deferred
> probing be used.


This is a good improvement. Will give Pali a chance to offer his signature, and
will merge then.
-- 
Darren Hart
VMware Open Source Technology Center