[openib-general][RFC][PATCH] mthca: HCA initialization parameters

[Roland Dreier]

    Leonid> Do you mean querying the firmware to determine the type of
    Leonid> the HCA?

No, I meant using the request_firmware() function to ask userspace for
a profile for each HCA, rather than allowing only one profile to be
provided (which will be used for all HCAs in the system).

But I'm not sure that request_firmware() really makes sense.  I just
wonder if having one profile for all HCAs is the right answer.  Maybe
it is.

    Roland> Does it make sense to tune all of these values?

    Leonid> I'm not sure that every one of the parameters will be used
    Leonid> but my feeling is that we want to let the user change the
    Leonid> whole profile for completeness.

My bias is in the other direction.  If we can't justify have something
be settable then I don't think we should add the setting.  It's just
adding complexity for no benefit.

Also, my point was that changing the number of UARs doesn't make any
sense in any circumstance.  Reducing the number doesn't save anything
significant, and increasing the number won't work.  So why have the
parameter?

    Leonid> We have two ideas here: 1. We can set the access
    Leonid> permissions to 0 and that way no sysfs entries will be
    Leonid> created.  2. Update the module parameters with the real
    Leonid> values after the initialization phase.

#2 makes a lot more sense to me.

 - R.