From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1759521AbXK0TBG (ORCPT ); Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:01:06 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1758903AbXK0TAx (ORCPT ); Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:00:53 -0500 Received: from mx1.redhat.com ([66.187.233.31]:32931 "EHLO mx1.redhat.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1756834AbXK0TAv (ORCPT ); Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:00:51 -0500 Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:00:37 -0500 From: Dave Jones To: Stephen Hemminger Cc: Rusty Russell , Roland Dreier , Andi Kleen , netdev@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, sam@ravnborg.org Subject: Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and intro. Message-ID: <20071127190037.GB30057@redhat.com> Mail-Followup-To: Dave Jones , Stephen Hemminger , Rusty Russell , Roland Dreier , Andi Kleen , netdev@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, sam@ravnborg.org References: <20071122343.446909000@suse.de> <200711261228.15155.rusty@rustcorp.com.au> <20071126102533.1c774870@freepuppy.rosehill.pdx.hemminger.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20071126102533.1c774870@freepuppy.rosehill.pdx.hemminger.net> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.17 (2007-11-01) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Mon, Nov 26, 2007 at 10:25:33AM -0800, Stephen Hemminger wrote: > 1) Why is everyone so concerned that export symbol space is large? > - does it cost cpu or running memory? > - does it cause bugs? > - or are you just worried about "evil modules"? To clarify something here, by "evil", don't necessarily think "binary only". Out of tree modules are frequently using symbols that they shouldn't be. Because they get no peer-review here, they 'get away with it' for the most part. Until distro vendors push rebased kernel updates that removed exports that should never have been exported, and suddenly people like me get bombed with "Fedora broke my xyz driver" mails. Reducing the opportunity for people to screw things up is a good thing. If a symbol is exported, most out-of-tree driver authors seem to think its "fair game" to use it. Dave -- http://www.codemonkey.org.uk