On Wed, 26 May 2010 15:35:32 +0300
Felipe Balbi <felipe.balbi@nokia.com> wrote:
:)
It really comes down to a policy decision by the distribution maker.
And I don't think kernel upstream should be the one to force one way or
the other. So merging this patch set will allow android to continue
their work _on mainline_ while everybody else can continue as before.
All points about the impact on the kernel have already been raised. So
you should be happy there.
Nonetheless, I really think the kernel needs to allow for the android
way of power saving. It misses out on a big feature and a big user-base
if not.
Also I expect there to be synergies between android development and
mainline kernel development _only_ if android development can use
mainline kernel.
And as for the quality of the "hack": I think you find this ugly, just
because you don't like the concept of degrading user space guaranties on
timers and stuff.
But look at it this way: Suspend blockers are a way for the kernel
to make user space programs accountable for using the resource "power".
If a user space program needs the "traditional" guaranties for
functioning properly, it needs to take a suspend blocker. But _THEN_ it
better be well behaved. This is a kind of contract between userspace
and kernelspace.
On the other hand, if I don't need these traditional guaranties on
timers and stuff, I don't have to know device specific things about
power consumption. I can just use whatever facilities the programming
language provides without needing to worry about low level details.
This is a _big_ plus for attracting 3rd party programs. (And of course
the thing you don't like).
Cheers,
Flo
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