Riley Williams <rhw@MemAlpha.CX> writes:
>
> I've certainly never stood in the position you call "Kernel" in that
> description. Here's the situation as I see it, put in those sort of
> terms, characters being InitScripts and Kernel respectively:
>
> 1. InitScripts points at Kernel saying "there is no good and no
> well documented mapping method".
>
> 2. Kernel replies "There is a good mapping method, which is to
> always map the ports starting with the lowest numbered one."
Well, there is that present mapping method, but I hesitate to call it
"good".
Plus, we are unable to satisfactorily define "lowest numbered one".
If I build a system with several identical (other than MAC) FooCorp
PCI ethernics, they will number up in order of ascending MAC address.
I take the same system, replace the FooCorp cards with BarInc NICs, they
will number up in reverse MAC address.
Replace them instead with Baz Systems NICs, and I get them in bus scan
order (at which point I'm dependent on the firmware version of my PCI
bridge too!).
And if I elect to use Frob Networking NICs, I instead get them in the
*random* order that their oncard processors won the race to power up.
Gods and demons help me if I try putting several of all four brands in
one box, or the firmware on my NICs or in my PCI bridges changes!
>
> 3. InitScripts then tells Kernel "But I don't want to map the ports
> in ascending numerical order!"
The phrase "ascending numerical order" becomes, depending on if you
have a complex (lots of different kinds of interfaces) or dynamic
(ferex, with PCMCIA, CompactPCI, USB, and Firewire ethernet
interfaces), either useless or undefined.
-- Mark Atwood | I'm wearing black only until I find something darker. mra@pobox.com | http://www.pobox.com/~mra - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Aug 07 2001 - 21:00:49 EST