hi,
i don't think there are similar infrastructures. This timeout is
not quite a timer.
The timeout starts counting when timeout_touch() is first called. At
this point the start() function is executed in non-atomic context.
Then either it is reset if timeout_touch() is called in time (and
thus starts to count again). Else it triggers, and executes the
trigger() function in non-atomic context and it stays idle unless
timeout_touch() is called again.
The non-atomic context is needed to use backlight.c mutexes and
that is enabled with the use of workqueues.
I don't mean to add some new infrastructure to the base kernel, but
it seemed a general functionality to me. In fact it may also be fully
included in backlight.c. Since backlight.h is in include/linux, i was
forced to put timeout.h in include/linux also. But this is just
a temporary fix.
jacopo
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