nvram and generic_nvram modules are problematic, was Re: [PATCH] arch: m68k: mac: misc.c: Remove some unused functions

[Russell King - ARM Linux]

On Sun, Feb 01, 2015 at 02:39:42PM +1100, Finn Thain wrote:
> I find the ARM support in drivers/char/nvram to be surprising, not to say 
> questionable. The /proc/driver/nvram implementation, given 
> defined(__arm__), decodes the NVRAM contents in exactly the same format as 
> when defined(__i386__) || defined(__x86_64__).

That's because it's used on the Netwinder and EBSA285 platforms, which
are PCI-like, complete with a southbridge which makes them look like a
PC.

> Whereas, only MIPS and 
> PowerPC defconfigs set CONFIG_RTC_DRV_CMOS at all, and without that symbol 
> the driver will never be built for ARM. This raises the question, does 
> /proc/driver/nvram do anything useful on any ARM platforms?

Yes.

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