Re: [GIT PULL v2] Preparation for BKL'ed ioctl removal [LWN.net]

From:		Linus Torvalds <torvalds-AT-linux-foundation.org>
To:		Frederic Weisbecker <fweisbec-AT-gmail.com>
Subject:		Re: [GIT PULL v2] Preparation for BKL'ed ioctl removal
Date:		Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:47:17 -0700 (PDT)
Cc:		LKML <linux-kernel-AT-vger.kernel.org>, Arnd Bergmann <arnd-AT-arndb.de>, Thomas Gleixner <tglx-AT-linutronix.de>, Al Viro <viro-AT-ZenIV.linux.org.uk>, Jan Blunck <jblunck-AT-suse.de>, Ingo Molnar <mingo-AT-elte.hu>, John Kacur <jkacur-AT-redhat.com>
Archive-link:		Article, Thread

On Sat, 24 Apr 2010, Linus Torvalds wrote:
>
> I don't see the point, frankly. Especially not outside the merge window, 
> but quite frankly, I don't see it in general. The whole thing seems to be 
> designed to be inconvenient, and to have a config option that I 
> fundamentally don't believe in (CONFIG_BKL).

More detail: it still leaves that old "ioctl" function pointer that needs 
the BKL and is ungreppable. So the whole and only point of the patch is to 
make our current mess even _more_ complex, with three different cases. No, 
thank you.

Quite frankly, if you want to get rid of the BKL in ioctl's and make them 
easily greppable, then I would suggest a simple renaming: rename the 
current '->ioctl()' thing to '->bkl_ioctl()', and mark it deprecated. No 
new config options, no new games. Just rename it. No need to mark things 
with CONFIG_BKL, when you can just see it by virtue of them using 
'bkl_ioctl'.

			Linus

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