On 17/03/2021 13:37, Ian Jackson wrote: > I have read this thread and with my release manager hat on I feel > confused and/or ignorant. > > Patch 3/ has a good explanation of what the problem is it is > addressing and why this is important for 4.15. But then there is > Jan's most recent reply starting "I find all of this confusing". Jan, > can you please tell me in words of one syllable what the implication > of that message is ? In particular is any of what you say a reason > for me to withhold my release-ack ? > > AFAICT there is no explanation for why patches 1/ and 2/ deserve to go > into 4.15. We are late in the freeze now, so I would ideally be > looking for a clear and compelling argument. I'd also like to > understand what the risks are of taking these. Can someone please > enlighten me ?
To make the code in 4.15 match 4.14, so patch 3 can be written in the first place. Also, as a side benefit, patches 1 and 2 reduce the quantity of logspew from the impacted MSRs. We cannot simply take patch 3 as-is, and say "4.14 and earlier" for backport, because that still forces end users to specify msr_relaxed to unbreak their Solaris guests, which is usability regression vs 4.14 ~Andrew
