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authorRussell King <rmk+kernel@armlinux.org.uk>2018-12-13 17:02:48 +0300
committerRussell King <rmk+kernel@armlinux.org.uk>2019-02-02 01:05:23 +0300
commit6213f70e7c10fd4a01b65bad3826648fc78df8a8 (patch)
treec1296d53776c9668057f570485285754c2424ab5 /lib/fdt_strerror.c
parent70678554c4c40f2cf8de5e7cd53fdd2c73387e51 (diff)
downloadlinux-6213f70e7c10fd4a01b65bad3826648fc78df8a8.tar.xz
ARM: smp: remove arch-provided "pen_release"
Consolidating the "pen_release" stuff amongst the various SoC implementations gives credence to having a CPU holding pen for secondary CPUs. However, this is far from the truth. Many SoC implementations cargo-cult copied various bits of the pen release implementation from the initial Realview/Versatile Express implementation without understanding what it was or why it existed. The reason it existed is because these are _development_ platforms, and some board firmware is unable to individually control the startup of secondary CPUs. Moreover, they do not have a way to power down or reset secondary CPUs for hot-unplug. Hence, the pen_release implementation was designed for ARM Ltd's development platforms to provide a working implementation, even though it is very far from what is required. It was decided a while back to reduce the duplication by consolidating the "pen_release" variable, but this only made the situation worse - we have ended up with several implementations that read this variable but do not write it - again, showing the cargo-cult mentality at work, lack of proper review of new code, and in some cases a lack of testing. While it would be preferable to remove pen_release entirely from the kernel, this is not possible without help from the SoC maintainers, which seems to be lacking. However, I want to remove pen_release from arch code to remove the credence that having it gives. This patch removes pen_release from the arch code entirely, adding private per-SoC definitions for it instead, and explicitly stating that write_pen_release() is cargo-cult copied and should not be copied any further. Rename write_pen_release() in a similar fashion as well. Signed-off-by: Russell King <rmk+kernel@armlinux.org.uk>
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