Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:20:39 +0200 | From | Stefan Richter <> | Subject | Re: [PATCH] x86_64: simplify the memtest parameter setting |
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> On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 7:15 PM, Frans Pop <elendil@planet.nl> wrote: >> the new description is probably too short. >> The phrase "allows memtest to be set" does not really mean anything to a >> user who does not know what memtest really does. It also does not explain >> that memtest is a boot parameter. >> >> Also, it should probably be made more explicit that no memtest is actually >> performed unless the memtest boot parameter is passed at the boot prompt. >> >> Looks like 4 is the maximum possible value. This should be mentioned >> explicitly (here as well as in Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt).
To add to this: The help text should IMO contain - that a test for faulty RAM is being added if Y, - that this feature can be controlled by the boot parameter (and, per the parameter's default, is normally off), - how many loops with which data patterns are performed depending on the boot parameter value, - how long this might take (so that nobody who hears of this for the first time enables it e.g. on a server which is supposed to not take too long to reboot), - how reliable the results of this test are (I presume that some faults can only be found by many repeated re-runs of the memory tester), - that saying Y slightly (?) increases the size of the kernel image but does not influence the kernel size after boot-up is completed.
Thanks, -- Stefan Richter -=====-==--- -=-- =--== http://arcgraph.de/sr/
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