Re: Possible bug in SCSI Kconfig

From: Stefan Richter
Date: Thu Oct 23 2008 - 13:31:07 EST


James Bottomley wrote:
On Wed, 2008-10-22 at 21:25 +0200, Fabio Comolli wrote:
But in my case I have SCSI enabled only because it's SELECTed by ATA
(it's just a laptop) and I don't have any hba's and never will. So no
async scan.

Presumably you have a laptop hard disk. That's currently SCSI if you
use ATA ... although when ATA moves out of SCSI it will no longer be, so
you could regard this as a temporary condition.

What USB storage? And more.

Maybe this module should be enabled if async scan is.

But that's the point: async scan is always "enabled" it just might not
be the default, that's what the CONFIG_SCSI_SCAN_ASYNC controls: the
default value (but you can always turn it on with the kernel boot or
SCSI module option). Async scan is also functional for /drivers/ata and
other hot plug type busses, so it still makes sense for them as well.
...
Well, we do use CONFIG_MODULES to try to discern whether the user wants
modules or not. However, if you enable modules, we'd need some
telepathic configurator to tell us if you plan to use SCSI HBA modules
or not, so the safest course is always to enable it. The real point is
that you have to be a real power user to answer N correctly to this, so
it's better not to confuse the remaining 97% with the option because
they could easily get wrong ...

Is it remotely possible that SCSI_WAIT_SCAN could depend on or be selected by transports which actually cooperate with scsi_wait_scan?

Also remember:
- Writing "Depending your initrd, this module may be necessary for
the system to boot up." and "If unsure, say M." in the Kconfig help
text is always an option.
- I haven't built an initrd since ages, but I presume that initrd
build scripts will complain if an expected module is missing.
- scsi_wait_scan is a special method to wait for devices during boot
which only works with some hardware types. More general methods are
available and have been in use far longer than scsi_wait_scan
exists. Nobody fundamentally needs scsi_wait_scan, it is only a
convenient tool for some users who choose to use it.
Special features are traditionally per default off in Kconfig and
are supposed to be actively enabled.

The sentence "this module may be necessary for the system to boot up" is actually applicable to a myriad of options which have a prompt and default to off. The only difference is that most of these options are easier to explain. And that's what it boils down to: You omitted the prompt because you felt it was too hard to explain.

the 3% who're sure they don't want it can simply delete it.

Yeah, or remove the line from .config, or... change scsi/Kconfig to get a prompt.
--
Stefan Richter
-=====-==--- =-=- =-===
http://arcgraph.de/sr/
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