> This will work only if you can get distribution maintainers to use
> different kernels for install vs upgrade. Otherwise they will just enable
> the compatibility option which will result in new installations using the
> old BIOS-style ordering. Back to step one.
Not exactly, because at least experienced people using home-built kernels
will be able to get any behaviour they choose.
> Since this is done before any userspace program is run, a run-time options
> would be useless.
A kernel command line option could be used...
> I'm not very familiar with the PCI BIOS, but a workaround could be to
> query the bios for all the devices, keep the list somewhere and just walk
> it whenever there is a request, while using the direct access methods for
> everything else - reading/setting parameters, etc. Again, I don't know if
> this can be done, and there would be subtle problems with hot-pluggable
> stuff (PCMCIA CardBus32), but it might be worth a try.
IMHO mixing direct access and BIOS access is bad. Either choose a PCI BIOS
only way (thus getting a BIOS order if you want) or use direct hardware access,
getting the `correct' order.
Have a nice fortnight
-- Martin `MJ' Mares <mj@ucw.cz> http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mj/ Faculty of Math and Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Rep., Earth "Maintenance-free: When it breaks, it can't be fixed..."- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu