Re: Multiple MSI messages support

From: Roland Dreier
Date: Wed Oct 31 2007 - 01:17:57 EST


> My interpretation of this statement is that you have to use MSIX if
> multiple MSI messages are required on Linux.

Yes, Linux only supports multiple messages with MSI-X, not MSI. This
is an architectural limitation of "Intel-style" interrupt controllers
(x86 and ia64). It is also a limitation of the Linux's MSI API, since
there are platforms and devices for which an OS could allocate
multiple MSI messages, but Linux has no interface that allows that.

The historical reason for the Linux interface is simply that Intel
platforms were the first place that MSI/MSI-X was supported.

- R.
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/