From: leroy christophe
> Many drivers use in_be16(), in_be32(), out_be16(), out_be32(), etc ....
> to access to registrers in IO mapped memory.
>
> What is the real purpose of those functions, and are they really needed ?
>
> ioremap() maps the related areas as GUARDED, which means that accesses
> can't be speculative. So what is the benefit of using in_beXX() and
> out_beXX() over simple memory accesses in the area ?
Some architectures might need to use specific instruction to access
io space (eg sparc might need to supply a specific 'address modifier').
Special instructions might be needed to perform a 'big endian' access.
Unfortunately the functions sometimes contain additional (often unneeded)
sequencing instructions - the driver may be able to perform multiple
operations between the sequencing instructions.
David
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