HEAD UP: non-MPSAFE network drivers to be disabled (was: 8.0 network stack MPsafety goals (fwd))

[Bruce M. Simpson]

Robert Watson wrote:
>
> An FYI on the state of things here: in the last month, John has 
> updated a number of device drivers to be MPSAFE, and the USB work 
> remains in-flight. I'm holding fire a bit on disabling IFF_NEEDSGIANT 
> while things settle and I catch up on driver state, and will likely 
> send out an update next week regarding which device drivers remain on 
> the kill list, and generally what the status of this project is.

Goliath needs to get stoned, it's been a major hurdle in doing 
IGMPv3/SSM because of the locking fandango. I look forward to it.

[For those who ask, what the hell? IGMPv3 potentially makes your 
wireless multicast better with or without little things like SSM, 
because of protocol robustness, compact state-changes, and the use of a 
single link-local IPv4 group for state-change reports, making it easier 
for your switches to actually do their job.]