diff options
| author | Linus Walleij <linus.walleij@linaro.org> | 2016-02-19 15:36:07 +0100 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org> | 2016-03-29 10:11:44 -0700 |
| commit | 49db08c358873af11ba3c25401de88156fa5d365 (patch) | |
| tree | 1a2cddaae3f112d0239cc61841efa4b8385985e6 /Documentation | |
| parent | 00411b7b1e3ec477b75bb83ccd417c7609832db6 (diff) | |
chrdev: emit a warning when we go below dynamic major range
Currently a dynamically allocated character device major is taken
from 254 and downward. This mechanism is used for RTC, IIO and a
few other subsystems.
The kernel currently has no check prevening these dynamic
allocations from eating into the assigned numbers at 233 and
downward.
In a recent test it was reported that so many dynamic device
majors were used on a test server, that the major number for
infiniband (231) was stolen. This occurred when allocating a new
major number for GPIO chips. The error messages from the kernel
were not helpful. (See: https://lkml.org/lkml/2016/2/14/124)
This patch adds a defined lower limit of the dynamic major
allocation region will henceforth emit a warning if we start to
eat into the assigned numbers. It does not do any semantic
changes and will not change the kernels behaviour: numbers will
still continue to be stolen, but we will know from dmesg what
is going on.
This also updates the Documentation/devices.txt to clearly
reflect that we are using this range of major numbers for dynamic
allocation.
Reported-by: Ying Huang <ying.huang@linux.intel.com>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: Alan Cox <alan@linux.intel.com>
Cc: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
Signed-off-by: Linus Walleij <linus.walleij@linaro.org>
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/devices.txt | 6 |
1 files changed, 3 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/devices.txt b/Documentation/devices.txt index 87b4c5e82d39..0a3588a9798d 100644 --- a/Documentation/devices.txt +++ b/Documentation/devices.txt @@ -3099,9 +3099,9 @@ Your cooperation is appreciated. 129 = /dev/ipath_sma Device used by Subnet Management Agent 130 = /dev/ipath_diag Device used by diagnostics programs -234-239 UNASSIGNED - -240-254 char LOCAL/EXPERIMENTAL USE +234-254 char RESERVED FOR DYNAMIC ASSIGNMENT + Character devices that request a dynamic allocation of major number will + take numbers starting from 254 and downward. 240-254 block LOCAL/EXPERIMENTAL USE Allocated for local/experimental use. For devices not |