On Thu, May 03, 2012 at 03:18:53PM +0100, Russell King - ARM Linux wrote:
On Thu, May 03, 2012 at 01:50:35PM +0000, Arnd Bergmann wrote:
My feeling is that we should just mandate DT booting for multiplatform kernels, because it significantly reduces the combinatorial space at compile time, avoids a lot of legacy board files that we cannot test anyway, reduces the total kernel size and gives an incentive for people to move forward to DT with their existing boards.
On this point, I strongly object, especially as I'm one who uses the existing non-DT multiplatform support extensively. It's really not a problem for what you're trying to achieve.
I object firstly on principle that you don't need the DT support to allow this, it could have been done years ago if anyone had taken the time to do it.
I think what you're proposing is a totally artificial restriction. There's no problem with a kernel supporting DT and non-DT together. We've proven that many many times. I prove it _every_ night that my build and boot system runs - the OMAP LDP boots a multiplatform kernel just fine without DT.
We could have had the same for Samsung's entire range if a bit of work had been applied to do things like PAGE_OFFSET and replaceable IRQ controllers.
In any case, this is the least of the worries when you're wanting to build multiple SoCs into the same kernel image. See my previous reply concerning that.