Re: [PATCH 2/4] ipmi: bt-bmc: Handle -ENXIO from optional IRQ lookup

[Bui Duc Phuc]

Hi Corey,

Thank you for your feedback.

> Yes, ignoring errors is the right thing to do in this case.  Printing a
> warning log about incorrect configuration is ok, but breaking systems
> that have incorrect configuration is not ok.
>

If that's the case, then perhaps platform_get_irq() would be a better fit than
platform_get_irq_optional(). platform_get_irq() already prints an error message
internally and only requires the caller to distinguish between success
and failure.
This seems to match the behavior you are looking for.

> It is common for these systems to not have interrupts.  I think it's a
> bad idea, but I didn't design the hardware or the specifciations.  And
> it's common for configuration to have issues :-(
>


Hardware configuration is handled by software, so if the software configures
the hardware incorrectly but ignores the error, the problem may go undetected.
Could this allow the same driver bug to persist when the driver is used
with newer generations of chips?

Also, if software silently ignores errors, it can hide a problem in
the hardware or
in how the hardware is being used. This can make the problem harder to detect
and potentially allow it to persist when the design is reused in
subsequent chip generations.

> Anyway, I think you have the parameters now, looking forward to the next
> patch.

My goal is to ensure that the correct error code is returned to the caller.
Although I could implement it by ignoring the errors as you suggested,
I will not do so because that goes against the goal of this series.

Best regards,
Phuc