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SubjectRe: [patch] e1000=y && e1000e=m regression fix
Linus Torvalds wrote:
> .. but that said, I think your patch is certainly better than what we have
> now (or what Ingo was complaining about for the next merge window). I
> certainly could live with it. I would just suggest against ever then
> removing that "generic E1000" choice.


You mean never ever remove PCI-E support from e1000?

Won't that will inflict long term headaches on the people that matter
most -- users and maintainers -- to avoid short term headaches for
kernel power users?

To review the overall situation,

* e1000 supports so many chips, that making a change for new hardware in
e1000 involves breaking stability of older chips

* //You know this// from past kernel history, when late-breaking e1000
changes for new hardware wound up breaking working setups on multiple
occasions

* There is 100% agreement that e1000 is a maintenance nightmare, from
the people who actually touch the code (or even read it).

* Therefore, e1000e receives new h/w support and new devel, leaving
e1000 to sit and be stable


However, due to a mistake now released to the public -- a tiny few PCI-E
chips are supported by e1000 -- you have a widely disparate feature set:

e1000, old chips: full support

e1000, a few PCI-E chips: basic support

e1000e, all PCI-E chips: full support

Since e1000e is all new and fancy AND CLEAN, the code for the same chips
is different -- thus Intel must make every PCI-E fix _twice_.

It also means WE HAVE TO KEEP TOUCHING E1000, while supporting PCI-E
chips. After this PCI-E issue is resolved, I want to let e1000 sit and
be stable and not be touched.

For a temporary situation, this is fine. Give me transition
suggestions, please!

For a permanent situation, that sucks.

Distros will ship e1000 sans PCI-E support, which means you are asking
that PCI-E support be maintained indefinitely, purely for the few kernel
hackers that still use it?

I __don't care__ how we get there, but a permanent situation where e1000
continues to support a few PCI-E chips in basic mode seems the least
desireable of all available options.

Wait six months? Sure. Whatever. As long as we get to where we can
disable PCI-E support in e1000.

Jeff






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