From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Sep 12 18:43:35 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B351E1065670; Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:43:35 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bms@FreeBSD.org) Received: from out1.smtp.messagingengine.com (out1.smtp.messagingengine.com [66.111.4.25]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 874C18FC1E; Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:43:35 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bms@FreeBSD.org) Received: from compute2.internal (compute2.internal [10.202.2.42]) by out1.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3E2D315F9FE; Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:43:35 -0400 (EDT) Received: from heartbeat1.messagingengine.com ([10.202.2.160]) by compute2.internal (MEProxy); Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:43:35 -0400 X-Sasl-enc: bg2XH+UXFRhr+u4qx8N2F6CnBiGoY8ebxQx/YzXLPY1/ 1221245014 Received: from empiric.lon.incunabulum.net (82-35-112-254.cable.ubr07.dals.blueyonder.co.uk [82.35.112.254]) by mail.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 95D8014488; Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:43:34 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <48CAB855.2020200@FreeBSD.org> Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:43:33 +0100 From: "Bruce M. Simpson" User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (X11/20080514) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Jeremy Chadwick References: <48C927DC.6000202@incunabulum.net> <1EDB9C24-8E69-43D3-8082-2379955FF8FF@young-alumni.com> <20080912175749.GA62725@icarus.home.lan> <20080912183233.GA63271@icarus.home.lan> In-Reply-To: <20080912183233.GA63271@icarus.home.lan> X-Enigmail-Version: 0.95.6 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Chris Ruiz , FreeBSD stable Subject: Re: Any working ichsmb(4) platforms out there? X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:43:35 -0000 Jeremy Chadwick wrote: > I don't consider this a "dependency issue" at all. These are all > literally separate things; you do not meed smbus(4) and smb(4) if you > just simply want to tie a driver to a feature/device that's on the PCI > bus (e.g. ichsmb(4)). > > Besides, does kldload or kernel modules in general have *any* sort > of dependency tree code? I didn't think they did. > Some modules do, some modules don't. One of the issues here is that there is sometimes a diamond-like dependency graph between kernel modules, or there is no way to establish dependency at all. For example, smb(4) has no idea that ichsmb(4) should be loaded, for the very reason you point out that smb(4) isn't needed by ichsmb(4); whilst ichsmb(4) presents an smbus(4) interface in the kernel, which smb(4) will recognise and attach to, it has no idea that it should get loaded. Having said that, I thought your plain language explanation of how things are was excellent and clear. cheers BMS