linux/kernel/printk
Benjamin Herrenschmidt 33225d7b0a printk: Correctly set CON_CONSDEV even when preferred console was not registered
CON_CONSDEV flag was historically used to put/keep the preferred console
first in console_drivers list. Where the preferred console is the last
on the command line.

The ordering is important only when opening /dev/console:

  + tty_kopen()
    + tty_lookup_driver()
      + console_device()

The flag was originally an implementation detail. But it was later
made accessible from userspace via /proc/consoles. It was used,
for example, by the tool "showconsole" to show the real tty
accessible via /dev/console, see
https://github.com/bitstreamout/showconsole

Now, the current code sets CON_CONSDEV only for the preferred
console or when a fallback console is added. The flag is not
set when the preferred console is defined on the command line
but it is not registered from some reasons.

Simple solution is to set CON_CONSDEV flag for the first
registered console. It will work most of the time because:

  + Most real consoles have console->device defined.

  + Boot consoles are removed in printk_late_init().

  + unregister_console() moves CON_CONSDEV flag to the next
    console.

Clean solution would require checking con->device when the
preferred console is registered and in unregister_console().

Conclusion:

Use the simple solution for now. It is better than the current
state and good enough.

The clean solution is not worth it. It would complicate the already
complicated code without too much gain. Instead the code would deserve
a complete rewrite.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20200213095133.23176-4-pmladek@suse.com
Signed-off-by: Benjamin Herrenschmidt <benh@kernel.crashing.org>
[pmladek@suse.com: Correct reasoning in the commit message, comment update.]
Reviewed-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
Reviewed-by: Sergey Senozhatsky <sergey.senozhatsky@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
2020-02-18 09:35:24 +01:00
..
braille.c printk: Replace strncmp() with str_has_prefix() 2019-08-16 09:54:08 +02:00
braille.h License cleanup: add SPDX GPL-2.0 license identifier to files with no license 2017-11-02 11:10:55 +01:00
console_cmdline.h printk: Fix preferred console selection with multiple matches 2020-02-18 09:34:42 +01:00
internal.h treewide: Replace GPLv2 boilerplate/reference with SPDX - rule 13 2019-05-21 11:28:45 +02:00
Makefile treewide: Add SPDX license identifier - Makefile/Kconfig 2019-05-21 10:50:46 +02:00
printk_safe.c treewide: Replace GPLv2 boilerplate/reference with SPDX - rule 13 2019-05-21 11:28:45 +02:00
printk.c printk: Correctly set CON_CONSDEV even when preferred console was not registered 2020-02-18 09:35:24 +01:00