Re: [RFC/PATCH] sysfs'ify video4linux

[Gerd Knorr <kraxel@bytesex.org>]

On Thu, Jul 17, 2003 at 02:49:07PM -0700, Greg KH wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 17, 2003 at 06:37:15PM +0200, Gerd Knorr wrote:
> > 
> > Version (1) can be done without breaking the build, with a hack along 
> > the lines "if (no release callback) printk(KERN_WARN please fix your
> > driver)", so the drivers can be fixed step-by-step afterwards.
> 
> That sounds like a nice way to start.
> 
> > Fixing the drivers might be non-trivial through.  Some drivers are
> > hot-pluggable (usb cams), some drivers register more than one v4l device
> > (bttv wants up to three).  Those drivers can't just call kfree() in the
> > ->release callback because there might be other references, some open
> > file handle for a unplugged usb cam, another not-yet unregistered
> > v4l device, whatever.  Probably they must implement some reference
> > counting scheme to get that right.  The very simple ones (in
> > drivers/media/radio for example) likely just need the kfree() moved
> > from the ->remove function into the new ->release() callback.
> 
> I don't think it will be that bad for them.  Just have them change the
> v4l device from being a structure included in their structure, into a
> pointer, and then create it before registering, and free it in the
> release() callback.
> 
> That being said, I haven't actually looked at the code to verify that
> this is all that is needed :)
> 
> > Version (2) needs every v4l driver touched to make it compile again.
> > Not sure how hard it is to fixup them.  I'd guess it is pretty straigt
> > forward to do the conversion, it's just alot of work.  I also could do
> > a number of other cleanups along the way.  Maybe I trap into some hidden
> > pitfalls through, havn't looked at all the drivers in detail yet.
> 
> Breaking the build is a very good thing to do at times, to ensure that
> stuff gets fixed properly.  Users might go for a while without realizing
> that there really is a problem in their driver.
> 
> But in the end, it's up to you...
> 
> thanks,
> 
> greg k-h

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