On Thu, May 28, 2026 at 05:48:43AM -0400, Jason Thorpe wrote: > > > On May 27, 2026, at 6:48???PM, Thor Lancelot Simon <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > I would say this agitates for simple removal of the STD 144 code, in > > kernel (what drivers actually use it?) and userspace. > > Currently, the ???wd??? driver supports bad144 (because ST506 and the like), > as well as the Xylogics SMD drivers (???xd??? and ???xy???). Like I said, > there???s been some cargo-culting of the consumption of the table in disk > drivers where it would have never served any real purpose. I don???t suppose > there are a lot of people using Fujitsu Super Eagles with their Sun3/260s > these days, but I have no reason to doubt that the drivers for those > controllers still work. (Maybe one day I???ll add emulation of them to TME.)
It's concievable the Xylogics controllers and their drivers would work (if the Connector Conspiracy did not intervene) not just with the CDC 97xx drives that were commonly used on larger minicomputers (on VAXen, usually via Emulex controllers on Massbus) but with their OEM variants, including several from DEC and, I think, some from other CPU manufacturers too. These have removable packs and are not an implausible target for historical data-recovery. I actually think that's an important use we should support. However, I also think _booting_ from such a drive actually is one of the higher-risk practices if one is concerned about its data forever descending into the memory hole, and I don't think we need direct support in the device drivers for any reason except to boot. This pushes me further towards the conclusion that if any reorganization of how the kernel handles bad144 is in order, a pseudodevice would make the most sense. I don't mean to volunteer you to do this, of course. And I don't think I have the time to do it myself (it'd be different if we could relax our policy on LLM-assisted code somewhat, though I guess the current rule does allow for case-by-case approval by 'core', and I could always ask). But it does seem like the best way to me. -- Thor Lancelot Simon [email protected] "The liberties...lose much of their value whenever those who have greater private means are permitted to use their advantages to control the course of public debate." -John Rawls
