Re: [patch 05/11] [PATCH 05/11] x86: Moved microcode.c to microcode_intel.c.

From: Giacomo A. Catenazzi
Date: Fri Sep 19 2008 - 08:58:55 EST


Dmitry Adamushko wrote:
2008/9/19 Peter Oruba <peter.oruba@xxxxxxx>:
Some additonal words regarding the current user space issues:

IMHO the most convenient way to update microcode is through the firmware loading
interface instead of microcode_ctl. This reduces user-space responsibilities to
loading the correct module at boot time and to place the microcode patch file at
the right location via package installation. The problems mentioned in this
thread would then probably disappear as well. What do you guys think?

It'd still require changes for all the setups that currently rely on
the 'microcode_ctl' interface. Moreover, Arjan's setup failed not due
to the 'microcode_ctl' per se but due to the altered kernel module
name. After all, we can't break the established interface this way.

We can either reserve 'microcode' as a legacy name for intel cpus (==
microcode_intel), or maybe we can use request_module() from
microcode.ko to load a proper arch-specific module (I guess, it's not
ok for !KMOD-enabled kernels).

I agree. A wrapper "microcode.ko" module would be nice, in order
to allow independent kernel and user space upgrades.

The module name is important also on udev method: only a module
load triggers the microcode request in udev, thus also the
new method should have stable kernel module name.

ciao
cate

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