linux.git/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt, branch v2.6.26-rc7

Merge branch 'release' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/aegl/linux-2.6

2008-05-15T20:56:42+00:00

* 'release' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/aegl/linux-2.6:
  [IA64] fix personality(PER_LINUX32) performance issue
  [IA64] Properly unregister legacy interrupts
  [IA64] Remove NULL pointer check for argument never passed as NULL.
  [IA64] trivial cleanup for perfmon.c
  [IA64] trivial cleanup for entry.S
  [IA64] fix interrupt masking for pending works on kernel leave
  [IA64] allow user to force_pal_cache_flush
  [IA64] Don't reserve crashkernel memory > 4 GB
  [IA64] machvec support for SGI UV platform
  [IA64] Add header files for SGI UV platform

[S390] Remove last traces of cio_msg=.

2008-05-15T14:52:38+00:00

cio_msg= is gone, also remove it from kernel-parameters.txt.

Signed-off-by: Cornelia Huck 
Signed-off-by: Martin Schwidefsky

[IA64] allow user to force_pal_cache_flush

2008-05-14T22:42:07+00:00

The sequence executed in check_sal_cache_flush:

	- pend a timer interrupt
	- call SAL_CACHE_FLUSH
	- see if interrupt is still pending

can hang HP machines with buggy SAL_CACHE_FLUSH implementations.

Provide a kernel command-line argument to allow users skip this
check if desired. Using this parameter will force ia64_sal_cache_flush
to call ia64_pal_cache_flush() instead of SAL_CACHE_FLUSH.

Signed-off-by: Alex Chiang 
Signed-off-by: Tony Luck

Merge branch 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jbarnes/pci-2.6

2008-05-05T19:39:10+00:00

* 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jbarnes/pci-2.6:
  x86 PCI: call dmi_check_pciprobe()
  x86/pci: add pci=skip_isa_align command lines.
  x86/pci: remove flag in pci_cfg_space_size_ext
  x86: fix section mismatch in pci_scan_bus

m68k: remove old mac_esp cruft

2008-05-05T19:38:50+00:00

Remove the rest of the old mac_esp driver. Also ditch the rest of the
machw mechanism, it needs to be replaced by a fake openfirmware tree.

Signed-off-by: Finn Thain 
Signed-off-by: Geert Uytterhoeven 
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds

x86/pci: add pci=skip_isa_align command lines.

2008-05-05T16:22:08+00:00

so we don't align the io port start address for pci cards.

also move out dmi check out acpi.c, because it has nothing to do with acpi.
it could spare some calling when we have several peer root buses.

Signed-off-by: Yinghai Lu 
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar 
Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner 
Signed-off-by: Jesse Barnes

infrastructure to debug (dynamic) objects

2008-04-30T15:29:53+00:00

We can see an ever repeating problem pattern with objects of any kind in the
kernel:

1) freeing of active objects
2) reinitialization of active objects

Both problems can be hard to debug because the crash happens at a point where
we have no chance to decode the root cause anymore.  One problem spot are
kernel timers, where the detection of the problem often happens in interrupt
context and usually causes the machine to panic.

While working on a timer related bug report I had to hack specialized code
into the timer subsystem to get a reasonable hint for the root cause.  This
debug hack was fine for temporary use, but far from a mergeable solution due
to the intrusiveness into the timer code.

The code further lacked the ability to detect and report the root cause
instantly and keep the system operational.

Keeping the system operational is important to get hold of the debug
information without special debugging aids like serial consoles and special
knowledge of the bug reporter.

The problems described above are not restricted to timers, but timers tend to
expose it usually in a full system crash.  Other objects are less explosive,
but the symptoms caused by such mistakes can be even harder to debug.

Instead of creating specialized debugging code for the timer subsystem a
generic infrastructure is created which allows developers to verify their code
and provides an easy to enable debug facility for users in case of trouble.

The debugobjects core code keeps track of operations on static and dynamic
objects by inserting them into a hashed list and sanity checking them on
object operations and provides additional checks whenever kernel memory is
freed.

The tracked object operations are:
- initializing an object
- adding an object to a subsystem list
- deleting an object from a subsystem list

Each operation is sanity checked before the operation is executed and the
subsystem specific code can provide a fixup function which allows to prevent
the damage of the operation.  When the sanity check triggers a warning message
and a stack trace is printed.

The list of operations can be extended if the need arises.  For now it's
limited to the requirements of the first user (timers).

The core code enqueues the objects into hash buckets.  The hash index is
generated from the address of the object to simplify the lookup for the check
on kfree/vfree.  Each bucket has it's own spinlock to avoid contention on a
global lock.

The debug code can be compiled in without being active.  The runtime overhead
is minimal and could be optimized by asm alternatives.  A kernel command line
option enables the debugging code.

Thanks to Ingo Molnar for review, suggestions and cleanup patches.

Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner 
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar 
Cc: Greg KH 
Cc: Randy Dunlap 
Cc: Kay Sievers 
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton 
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds

Basic braille screen reader support

2008-04-30T15:29:52+00:00

This adds a minimalistic braille screen reader support.  This is meant to
be used by blind people e.g.  on boot failures or when / cannot be mounted
etc and thus the userland screen readers can not work.

[akpm@linux-foundation.org: fix exports]
Signed-off-by: Samuel Thibault 
Cc: Jiri Kosina 
Cc: Dmitry Torokhov 
Acked-by: Alan Cox 
Cc: Randy Dunlap 
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton 
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds

edd: add default mode CONFIG_EDD_OFF=n, override with edd={on,off}

2008-04-29T15:06:23+00:00

Add a kernel parameter option to 'edd' to enable/disable BIOS Enhanced Disk
Drive Services.  CONFIG_EDD_OFF disables EDD while still compiling EDD into
the kernel.  Default behavior can be forced using 'edd=on' or 'edd=off' as
a kernel parameter.

[akpm@linux-foundation.org: fix kernel-parameters.txt]
Signed-off-by: Tim Gardner 
Signed-off-by: Matt Domsch 
Cc: "H. Peter Anvin" 
Cc: "Randy.Dunlap" 
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton 
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds

x86: olpc: add One Laptop Per Child architecture support

2008-04-29T15:06:07+00:00

This adds support for OLPC XO hardware.  Open Firmware on XOs don't contain
the VSA, so it is necessary to emulate the PCI BARs in the kernel.  This also
adds functionality for running EC commands, and a CONFIG_OLPC.

A number of OLPC drivers depend upon CONFIG_OLPC.

olpc_ec_timeout is a hack to work around Embedded Controller bugs.

[akpm@linux-foundation.org: build fix]
[akpm@linux-foundation.org: geode_has_vsa build fix]
[akpm@linux-foundation.org: olpc_register_battery_callback doesn't exist]
Signed-off-by: Andres Salomon 
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar 
Cc: Thomas Gleixner 
Cc: Andi Kleen 
Cc: Jordan Crouse 
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton 
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds