Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and intro.

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To: Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@...>
Cc: Rusty Russell <rusty@...>, Roland Dreier <rdreier@...>, Andi Kleen <ak@...>, <netdev@...>, <linux-kernel@...>, <sam@...>
Date: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - 3:00 pm

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
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Messages in current thread:
Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and..., Stephen Hemminger, (Mon Nov 26, 2:25 pm)
Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and..., Arjan van de Ven, (Thu Nov 29, 12:53 pm)
Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and..., Dave Jones, (Tue Nov 27, 3:00 pm)
Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and..., Stephen Hemminger, (Tue Nov 27, 7:00 pm)
Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and..., Christoph Hellwig, (Tue Nov 27, 12:33 pm)
Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and..., Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo, (Thu Nov 22, 8:01 am)
Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and..., Christoph Hellwig, (Thu Nov 22, 7:06 am)
Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and..., Christoph Hellwig, (Thu Nov 22, 8:03 am)
Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and..., Christoph Hellwig, (Thu Nov 22, 7:05 am)
Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and..., Arjan van de Ven, (Wed Nov 21, 11:03 pm)
[PATCH RFC] [7/9] Convert TCP exports into namespaces, Andi Kleen, (Wed Nov 21, 10:43 pm)
[PATCH RFC] [8/9] Put UDP exports into a namespace, Andi Kleen, (Wed Nov 21, 10:43 pm)
[PATCH RFC] [9/9] Add a inet namespace, Andi Kleen, (Wed Nov 21, 10:43 pm)
[PATCH RFC] [4/9] modpost: Fix format string warnings, Andi Kleen, (Wed Nov 21, 10:43 pm)