Re: [PATCH 0/5] add bus driver for Unisys s-Par paravirtualized devices to arch/x86

[Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>]

On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 10:01:55AM -0400, Jes Sorensen wrote:
> Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org> writes:
> > On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 03:27:56AM -0400, David Kershner wrote:
> >> This patchset moves the visorbus driver (fromdrivers/staging/unisys/visorbus)
> >> and its dependent headers files (from drivers/staging/unisys/include)
> >> out of staging into the main kernel tree.
> >> 
> >> The visorbus driver is a bus driver for various paravirtualized devices
> >> presented within a Unisys s-Par guest environment.  Drivers for these
> >> devices are also currently present under drivers/staging/unisys/, which we
> >> intend to also move out of staging immediately after visorbus.  All of
> >> these other drivers are dependent upon visorbus and the include directory,
> >> which is why we would like to move these first.
> >> 
> >> Our initial consultations with various members of the community have led us
> >> to the conclusion that the most appropriate locations for these is:
> >>     arch/x86/visorbus/       (driver)
> >>     include/linux/visorbus/  (header files)
> >> 
> >> The rationale is that visorbus is dependent on x86-64 architecture.
> >
> > What makes it dependent on x86?  What prevents it from running on some
> > other architecture (not the fact that no one has made such hardware,
> > just the code reasons please.)
> 
> It's dependent on system firmware which is only available on the S-Par
> platform which is x86_64 only. The closest similarity is probably what
> you find on the PPC and Sparc platforms.

Ok, but still no need to put it under arch/ anything, it should go in
drivers/ like all other drivers and busses are, no matter what the arch
it happens to run on is.

thanks,

greg k-h