Stefan Rompf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Currently, IFF_RUNNING is created out of dev->state that is *not* > protected by > any lock as the driver can change it from interrupts. Instead, atomic bit > operations are used. If we allow userspace to write into operstate - either > into independant bits that Krzysztof suggests or into my operstate_kernel > field - we would have races.
Not exactly. If we allow only one writer (i.e., only one protocol, hardware etc. driver) to change a particular bit - as it's been in current kernels - there are no races. The end result might be momentarily unstable while flags are being changed but I don't think it could be a problem. In fact, this isn't a new issue. Let's face it, we aren't going to change that. > As Thomas pointed out, this is still not perfect if the driver produces > events > too fast for linkwatch workqueue, but that's an implementation detail > and not > a design flaw. What we need is a correct design _and_ implementation. What good a design is if it can't be correctly implemented? -- Krzysztof Halasa - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe netdev" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
