RE: [PATCH 07/16] ACPICA: New: Portable acpidump utility (get system ACPI tables)

["Moore, Robert" <robert.moore@intel.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rafael J. Wysocki [mailto:rjw@sisk.pl]
> Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2013 12:42 PM
> To: Moore, Robert
> Cc: Len Brown; Zheng, Lv; Wysocki, Rafael J; Brown, Len; linux acpi
> Subject: Re: [PATCH 07/16] ACPICA: New: Portable acpidump utility (get
> system ACPI tables)
> 
> On Thursday, June 20, 2013 04:57:04 AM Moore, Robert wrote:
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Rafael J. Wysocki [mailto:rjw@sisk.pl]
> > > Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2013 4:11 PM
> > > To: Moore, Robert
> > > Cc: Len Brown; Zheng, Lv; Wysocki, Rafael J; Brown, Len; linux acpi
> > > Subject: Re: [PATCH 07/16] ACPICA: New: Portable acpidump utility
> > > (get system ACPI tables)
> > >
> > > On Wednesday, June 19, 2013 12:48:56 AM Moore, Robert wrote:
> > > > Sorry, I don't think the Linux version has been completed in
> > > > version
> > > > 20130517
> > > > -- so perhaps you should ignore this patch after all, unless you
> > > > want to simply establish the infrastructure for the final Linux
> version.
> > > > The Linux-specific code is completed and will be part of the June
> > > release.
> > >
> > > Great, I'll take the patch at that time, then.
> > >
> > > > However, we can still discuss the future of the changelog, etc. We
> > > > seem to have an overall problem where the ACPICA commit log is
> > > > "generic", but I'm seeing here a request to make the actual Linux
> > > > patches more specific to Linux.
> > > >
> > > > As far as acpica and acpidump is concerned, I put specific
> > > > generation instructions in the reference manual...
> > > >
> > > > Of course, the details for any individual operating system may be
> > > > different (especially file locations), so I have to make the
> > > > acpica changelog somewhat generic.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Here is the actual acpica changelog text concerning acpidump, for
> > > version 20130517:
> > > >
> > > > 2) iASL Compiler/Disassembler and Tools:
> > > >
> > > > New utility: Implemented an easily portable version of the
> > > > acpidump utility to extract ACPI tables from the system (or a
> > > > file) in an ASCII hex dump format. The top-level code implements
> > > > the various command line options, file I/O, and table dump
> > > > routines. To port to a new host, only three functions need to be
> > > > implemented to get tables -- since this functionality is
> > > > OS-dependent. See the tools/acpidump/apmain.c module and the
> > > > ACPICA reference for porting
> > > instructions. ACPICA BZ 859. Notes:
> > > > 1) The Windows version obtains the ACPI tables from the Registry.
> > > > 2) The Linux version is under development.
> > > > 3) Other hosts - If an OS-dependent module is submitted, it will
> > > > be distributed with ACPICA.
> > >
> > > Well, this is much better than what Lv sent, actually.
> > >
> > > We could use it for Linux too, I think, only without the "Notes" part.
> > >
> > > My general opinion is that we can simply use the same changelogs as
> > > the ACPICA upstream does, possibly amended with a more detailed
> > > explanation of the motivation behind the patch.
> > >
> > > In this case, however, the changelog wasn't even similar to the
> > > original one.
> > >
> >
> > This is the text from the release notes which end up in the
> "changes.txt" file.
> 
> I see.  We don't get that information with the kernel patches, though.
> 
> > I usually expand upon the major changes in a format that is longer
> > than the actual commit log.
> 
> So perhaps Lv (or whoever generates the Linux patches for the given
> release) can simply add the information you put into "changes.txt" to the
> Linux patches changelogs?
> 


Many times that would help. However, I describe only the major changes in the release notes; I don't mention things like cleanups or any other changes which don't affect functionality. Also, I don't mention really minor bug fixes.




> Rafael
> 
> 
> --
> I speak only for myself.
> Rafael J. Wysocki, Intel Open Source Technology Center.