Re: [PATCH 2.4] add SMBIOS information to /proc/smbios -- UPDATED

From: Lev Makhlis
Date: Sat May 01 2004 - 16:01:43 EST


> > -- This information is, in the very near future, _not_ going to be
> > static anymore. There will be systems that update the information in
> > dynamically during SMIs.
>
> That's fine - /dev/mem can handle that too. An user will have to
> poll for changes anyways, so having it it /proc does not have
> any advantages.

One problem is that /dev/mem access isn't atomic. You need to read
a pointer, then follow the pointer to read data. If the pointer changes
in the middle, you lose. That said, I don't see any mechanism that
helps avoid that in kernel, either.

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/