Re: Add a "enable" sysfs attribute to the pci devices to allow userspace (Xorg) to enable devices without doing foul direct access

["Jon Smirl" <jonsmirl@gmail.com>]

On 5/5/06, Dave Airlie <airlied@gmail.com> wrote:
> > It has everything to do with the 'enable' file. The 'enable' file lets
> > you change the state of the hardware without an ownership mechanism.
> > Other device users will not be notified of the state change. Since the
> > other users can't be sure of the state of the hardware when they are
> > activated, they will have to reload their state into the hardware on
> > every activation.
>
> Jon
>
> you seem to miss the fact that this can be done now without the enable
> flag, setpci can be used to disable the BARs, again the enable flag
> doesn't change that....

Existence of a problem API doesn't justify creating more of them.

The minimal vga driver combined with new_id scheme is very simple, it
works on older kernels, it does not create a new API and it tracks
ownership of the hardware state. But instead everyone seems to want
the 'enable' file despite it's obvious problems.

--
Jon Smirl
jonsmirl@gmail.com