re: kern/55103: /dev/wsmouse returns EINVAL

[Paul Goyette <paul%whooppee.com@localhost>]

The following reply was made to PR kern/55103; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Paul Goyette <paul%whooppee.com@localhost>
To: matthew green <mrg%eterna.com.au@localhost>
Cc: gnats-bugs%netbsd.org@localhost, pgoyette%netbsd.org@localhost, gnats-admin%netbsd.org@localhost, 
    netbsd-bugs%netbsd.org@localhost, mlelstv%serpens.de@localhost
Subject: re: kern/55103: /dev/wsmouse returns EINVAL
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2020 16:11:48 -0700 (PDT)

 On Fri, 3 Apr 2020, matthew green wrote:
 
 > the problem is that in the past cat and hexdump were
 > useful and usable as "clients".  that no longer works,
 > because without the compat code available, there is no
 > way, without setting the version, to access these nodes,
 > which makes the cat/hexdump mehtods of debugging not work.
 >
 > any argument that says "fix your userland" misses the
 > desired (and traditional) operation here and is not a
 > helpful answer.
 >
 > i think the only real solution we have here is the sysctl
 > that changes the default, and having the depend on whether
 > there is a path for compat or not -- eg, if it is present,
 > then use it, or if it's possibly available (MODULAR) then
 > use it, but with no baked in compat or modules, the default
 > should be the only working method.
 >
 > AFAICT, this avoids breaking old userland with new kernel,
 > allows cat/hexdump to work, and keeps everything else
 > working in at least the same feature set as before.
 
 Let's see if I get this decision-process right...
 
 Create the hw.wsmouse.default_version sysctl(8) to deal with
 updating the default_version.  (And retain the existing ioctl
 call to change the version used by an opened device.)
 
 static int default_version =
 #ifdef MODULAR
  					old;
 #else
  					new;
 #endif
 
 
 In wsmouse_open()
 
  	...
  	/*
  	 * The hook returns 0 (for "old version") if the hook is
  	 * set;  otherwise we use the compile-time default version.
  	 * Effectively, we have
  	 *
  	 * if (wsevent_50_available) {
  	 *	version = old;
  	 * } else {
  	 *	version = default_version;
  	 * }
  	 */
  	MODULE_HOOK_CALL(wsevent_50_version_hook(), (),
  		default_version, version);
  	...
 
 
 If we do this, then MODULAR kernels will never default to the
 new version, even if the compat_50 module is not present, and
 it will be necessary for "new binaries" to explicitly set the
 version using the ioctl() (or to update the version via the
 sysctl).  "Old binaries" will continue to _fail_ if the compat_50
 module is not present in a MODULAR kernel, but "old binaries"
 _will_ work in non-MODULAR kernels (although the time-stamps in
 the data will be wrong, since we'll set 64-bits).
 
 Is this what we want?  If so, it should be relatively easy to
 implement.
 
 Unfortunately due to the introduction of a new compat_hook, it
 would be inappropriate to pull this up to the -9 branch.  :(
 
 I _think_ this is the decision/result matrix we end up with...
 
                       Old binary                New binary
 
 non-MODULAR          Read succeeds, but data   Works fine
                       is wrong - 64-vs-32 bit
                       time-stamps
 
 MODULAR, and         Read succeeds             Read succeeds, but data
 module present,                                is wrong - 32-vs-64 bit
 sysctl not updated                             time-stamps (can use the
                                                 ioctl to make it work)
 
 MODULAR, module      Read succeeds, but data   Read succeeds
 present, and sysctl  is wrong
 _is_ updated
 
 MODULAR, module is   Read fails, as it does    Read fails as it does
 not present, and     today                     today
 sysctl not updated
 
 MODULAR, module is   Read fails, as it does    Read succeeds
 not present, and     today
 sysctl is updated
 
 
 
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