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SubjectRe: new tool: blktool
Mark Lord wrote:
> Simply dropping HDIO_DRIVE_CMD/HDIO_DRIVE_TASK into there would
> immediately gain full compatibility with the existing toolsets,
> and give some time for a newer scheme to be rolled out in the
> kernel, the tools, and ultimately all of the various distros.

Addendum: don't misunderstand my other emails, I do agree with what
you're saying above. But random thoughts (some of which conflict with
each other):

* In Linux we want to keep ancient userland binaries working for as long
as possible.

* I don't mind HDIO_DRIVE_TASK nearly as much as HDIO_DRIVE_CMD, since
the command protocol is available. But if I give in and decide that a
command opcode->protocol lookup table is inevitable for supporting
legacy interface, then I might as well implement both HDIO_DRIVE_TASK
and HDIO_DRIVE_CMD.

* OTOH, this is an excellent opportunity to _not_ implement these
ioctls, if an obviously-better interface is available. Since libata and
SATA are new drivers using new interfaces, it's not difficult to move
things to new interfaces.

* And it's not a big deal to update blktool and hdparm to use <new
method X> to send ATA taskfiles, rather than existing HDIO_DRIVE_xxx.
(that leaves only existing applications)

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