Messages in this thread | | | Subject | Re: [announce] "kill the Big Kernel Lock (BKL)" tree | From | (Jonathan Corbet) | Date | Wed, 14 May 2008 16:07:47 -0600 |
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Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> wrote:
> I don't think there are *that* many. I found only 83 instances of > "register_chrdev()" in the kernel, so the open methods should be pretty > limited.
There's the drivers calling cdev_add() directly as well - another 40ish. Still not a huge list, I guess.
> So it literally should be: > - remove one lock_kernel/unlock_kernel pair in fs/char_dev.c > - add max 83 pairs in the places that register those things > - external modules will need to add it themselves some day.
This is all certainly doable, but it leaves me with one concern: there will be no signal to external module maintainers that the change needs to be made. So, beyond doubt, quite a few of them will just continue to be shipped unfixed - and they will still run. If any of them actually *need* the BKL, something awful may happen to somebody someday.
jon
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