> /proc/cpuinfo is supposed to report CPU information, not kernel
> bug-detection capabilities, IMNSHO. A normal Linux user with a non-Intel
> x86 would prefer to see a "clean" cpuinfo, without all the Intel-only
> bugs. Kernel bug-detection capabilities could be listed on another
> screen.
/proc/cpuinfo is not intended for reading _only_ by human users (who can
see all detected CPU bugs during system boot anyway), but also for parsing
by programs which need to know whether they can rely on the CPU not having
the specific bug. It seems obvious to me that missing bug info should mean
`bug not known to this kernel' rather than `bug not present', so that the
apps can get all info they need at once without having to remember which
kernels know the bug in question or having to parse yet another file.
> BTW TSC calibration in the setup code would allow showing MHz rating in
> /proc/cpuinfo, so people would stop wondering why they get bogomips such
> and such everytime a new x86 processor comes out.
This would be interesting, but remember that CPU clock speed need not
to be equal TSC frequency.
Have a nice fortnight
-- Martin `MJ' Mares <mj@ucw.cz> http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mj/ Faculty of Math and Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Rep., Earth "One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them..."- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu