Re: [RFC][PATCH 2.6.13-rc6] add Dell Systems Management Base Driver (dcdbas) with sysfs support

[Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu]

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 23:58:43 CDT, Michael E Brown said:

> No, this is an _EXCELLENT_ reason why _LESS_ of this should be in the
> kernel. Why should we have to duplicate a _TON_ of code inside the
> kernel to figure out which platform we are on, and then look up in a
> table which method to use for that platform? We have a _MUCH_ nicer
> programming environment available to us in userspace where we can use
> things like libsmbios to look up the platform type, then look in an
> easily-updateable text file which smi type to use. In general, plugging
> the wrong value here is a no-op.

You'll still need to do some *very* basic checking - there's fairly
scary-looking 'outb' call in  callintf_smi()  and host_control_smi() that seems to
be totally too trusting that The Right Thing is located at address CMOS_BASE_PORT:

+		for (index = PE1300_CMOS_CMD_STRUCT_PTR;
+		     index < (PE1300_CMOS_CMD_STRUCT_PTR + 4);
+		     index++) {
+			outb(index,
+			     (CMOS_BASE_PORT + CMOS_PAGE2_INDEX_PORT_PIIX4));
+			outb(*data++,
+			     (CMOS_BASE_PORT + CMOS_PAGE2_DATA_PORT_PIIX4));
+		}

This Dell C840 has an 845, not a PIIX.  What just got toasted if this driver
gets called?

Can we have a check that the machine is (a) a Dell and (b) has a PIIX and (c) the
PIIX has a functional SMI behind it, before we start doing outb() calls?

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