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Logan Gunthorpe a5d31a3f81 char_dev: extend dynamic allocation of majors into a higher range
We've run into problems with running out of dynamicly assign char
device majors particullarly on automated test systems with
all-yes-configs. Roughly 40 dynamic assignments can be made with such
kernels at this time while space is reserved for only 20.

Currently, the kernel only prints a warning when dynamic allocation
overflows the reserved region. And when this happens drivers that have
fixed assignments can randomly fail depending on the order of
initialization of other drivers. Thus, adding a new char device can cause
unexpected failures in completely unrelated parts of the kernel.

This patch solves the problem by extending dynamic major number
allocations down from 511 once the 234-254 region fills up. Fixed
majors already exist above 255 so the infrastructure to support
high number majors is already in place. The patch reserves an
additional 128 major numbers which should hopefully last us a while.

Kernels that don't require more than 20 dynamic majors assigned (which
is pretty typical) should not be affected by this change.

Signed-off-by: Logan Gunthorpe <logang@deltatee.com>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Alan Cox <alan@linux.intel.com>
Cc: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
Cc: Linus Walleij <linus.walleij@linaro.org>
Link: https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/6/4/107
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
2017-07-17 15:09:17 +02:00
Documentation char_dev: extend dynamic allocation of majors into a higher range 2017-07-17 15:09:17 +02:00
arch Merge branch 'work.mount' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/viro/vfs 2017-07-15 12:00:42 -07:00
block Merge branch 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.dk/linux-block 2017-07-11 15:36:52 -07:00
certs modsign: add markers to endif-statements in certs/Makefile 2017-07-14 11:01:37 +10:00
crypto Merge branch 'linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/herbert/crypto-2.6 2017-07-14 22:49:50 -07:00
drivers mei: me: use an index instead of a pointer for private data 2017-07-17 15:07:39 +02:00
firmware firmware/Makefile: force recompilation if makefile changes 2017-05-08 17:15:10 -07:00
fs char_dev: extend dynamic allocation of majors into a higher range 2017-07-17 15:09:17 +02:00
include char_dev: extend dynamic allocation of majors into a higher range 2017-07-17 15:09:17 +02:00
init random: do not ignore early device randomness 2017-07-12 16:26:00 -07:00
ipc ipc/util.h: update documentation for ipc_getref() and ipc_putref() 2017-07-12 16:26:02 -07:00
kernel Merge branch 'work.mount' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/viro/vfs 2017-07-15 12:00:42 -07:00
lib Add wait_for_random_bytes() and get_random_*_wait() functions so that 2017-07-15 12:44:02 -07:00
mm Merge branch 'work.mount' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/viro/vfs 2017-07-15 12:00:42 -07:00
net Add wait_for_random_bytes() and get_random_*_wait() functions so that 2017-07-15 12:44:02 -07:00
samples Merge branch 'akpm' (patches from Andrew) 2017-07-13 12:38:49 -07:00
scripts Kbuild updates for v4.13 (2nd) 2017-07-13 13:37:57 -07:00
security KEYS: DH: validate __spare field 2017-07-14 11:01:38 +10:00
sound sound fixes for 4.13-rc1 2017-07-14 12:44:00 -07:00
tools Merge branch 'akpm' (patches from Andrew) 2017-07-14 21:57:25 -07:00
usr ramfs: clarify help text that compression applies to ramfs as well as legacy ramdisk. 2017-07-06 16:24:30 -07:00
virt Second batch of KVM updates for v4.13 2017-07-15 10:18:16 -07:00
.cocciconfig
.get_maintainer.ignore
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set git diff driver for C source code files 2016-10-07 18:46:30 -07:00
.gitignore kbuild: Add support to generate LLVM assembly files 2017-04-25 08:13:52 +09:00
.mailmap power supply and reset changes for the v4.12 series (part 2) 2017-05-12 12:02:21 -07:00
COPYING
CREDITS avr32: remove support for AVR32 architecture 2017-05-01 09:27:15 +02:00
Kbuild kbuild: Consolidate header generation from ASM offset information 2017-04-13 05:43:37 +09:00
Kconfig
MAINTAINERS Merge branch 'upstream' of git://git.linux-mips.org/pub/scm/ralf/upstream-linus 2017-07-15 10:59:54 -07:00
Makefile Linux v4.13-rc1 2017-07-15 15:22:10 -07:00
README README: add a new README file, pointing to the Documentation/ 2016-10-24 08:12:35 -02:00

README

Linux kernel
============

This file was moved to Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst

Please notice that there are several guides for kernel developers and users.
These guides can be rendered in a number of formats, like HTML and PDF.

In order to build the documentation, use ``make htmldocs`` or
``make pdfdocs``.

There are various text files in the Documentation/ subdirectory,
several of them using the Restructured Text markup notation.
See Documentation/00-INDEX for a list of what is contained in each file.

Please read the Documentation/process/changes.rst file, as it contains the
requirements for building and running the kernel, and information about
the problems which may result by upgrading your kernel.