Re: x86 setup code rewrite in C - revised

From: Linus Torvalds
Date: Thu Jul 12 2007 - 13:25:40 EST




On Wed, 11 Jul 2007, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
>
> This patch set replaces the x86 setup code, which is currently all in
> assembly, with a version written in C, using the ".code16gcc" feature
> of binutils (which has been present since at least 2001.)
>
> 76 files changed, 4606 insertions(+), 5209 deletions(-)

I can't really argue against this on any sane grounds - not only is it
removing more lines than it adds, but moving from mostly unreadable
assembly to C seems a good idea.

How does this impact the size of that code? Do we even care?

But as to how to integrate it, I'm not sure I really want to just merge
it. I suspect we would want to have it in some public tree that people
actually test at least to some degree first, and the -mm tree seems to
make most sense.

I didn't see anything objectionable in the series, although I do think the
explanations need to be re-done for a number of them. You seem to have
violated the "a single line to explain the patch at the top" rule, and as
a result they make no sense for some of them (the explanation for patch
05/33 doesn't parse for me and 07/33 seems to have the single-line
problem)

So let's just get this merged. But the question is, do we put it in
2.6.23-rc1, or do we put it in -mm for a few weeks, which would imply
waiting for the next merge window? Andrew?

Linus
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