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SubjectRe: PATCH: (as177) Add class_device_unregister_wait() and platform_device_unregister_wait() to the driver model core
On Fri, 23 Jan 2004, Linus Torvalds wrote:

> On Fri, 23 Jan 2004, Alan Stern wrote:
> >
> > Since I haven't seen any progress towards implementing the
> > class_device_unregister_wait() and platform_device_unregister_wait()
> > functions, here is my attempt.
>
> So why would this not deadlock?

Kind of a general question, so I'll give a general answer. This wouldn't
deadlock for the same reason as anything else: People use it properly!

> The reason we don't wait on things like this is that it's basically
> impossible not to deadlock.

That's an exaggeration. There are places where it's _necessary_ to
wait. For example, consider this extract from a recent patch written by
Greg KH:

+ /* FIXME change this when the driver core gets the
+ * class_device_unregister_wait() call */
+ init_completion(&bus->released);
class_device_unregister(&bus->class_dev);
+ wait_for_completion(&bus->released);

For the full patch, see
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-usb-devel&m=107109069106188&w=2

The general context is that a module is trying to unload, but it can't
until the release() callback for its device has finished.

> There are damn good reasons why the kernel uses reference counting
> everywhere. Any other approach is broken.

And sometimes a part of the kernel has to wait until the reference count
drops to 0. Instead of making everyone who needs to wait for a
class_device or a platform_device roll their own completions, this
provides a central facility.

By the way, adding class_device_unregister_wait() has an excellent
precedent. The driver model core _already_ includes
device_unregister_wait(), merged by Pat Mochel. Are you saying that
function shouldn't exist either?

Alan Stern

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