Hi Marcel, >> the commit message is misleading me. If I build something with ACPI or DT >> support, then modinfo will show all modalias information for ACPI and DT >> compatible strings. What else does udev/modprobe actually need? Is something >> broken with the modalias export? > > The main purpose is to autoload drivers for devices that have been > created via sysfs or another module. > > Eg1: We have a serial port on a standard computer that has connected a > GPS module. Since it is something that is not in the ACPI nor the DT > table the user will run > > echo serdev_gps > /sys/bus/serial/devices/serial0/new_device > > Eg2 module: > https://github.com/ribalda/linux/blob/415bb3f0076c2b846ebe5409589b8e1e3004f55a/drivers/tty/serdev/test_platform.c > > Modprobe does not know what module to load for that device unless > there is a matching MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE > Today, we have the same functionality for i2c devices > https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/i2c/instantiating-devices
but why does this have to be the driver name? I would rather say, create a generic string that describes the hardware and then use that. I think you also want the special handling, as from USB for example, that lets you reference an existing .compatible or ACPI ID as reference so that the driver_data is copied. Regards Marcel
