Re: [PATCH] x86/kconfig/32: Mark CONFIG_VM86 as BROKEN

[Linus Torvalds]

On Tue, Jul 7, 2015 at 7:33 PM, Arjan van de Ven <arjan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> if this patch would not be acceptable, at minimum we need some sort of "off
> by default
> unless the sysadmin flips a sysfs thing", which is really just a huge hack.

The only thing that matters is whether people use this or not.

If people use vm86 mode, we can't just disable it. It's that simple.
"It's poorly maintained" isn't an argument for removal. Only "nobody
cares" works as an argument for that.

My suspicion is that people still do use vm86 mode, but who knows..
Quite frankly, rather than disable it, I'd much rather see people who
modify low-level x86 code (yes, that means you, Luto) *test* it. If
you aren't willign to test the modifications you make, I don't think
those modifications should be merged, regardless of how nice a cleanup
they are.

                   Linus
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