new kernel ... / meaning of stable-tracking

[Mark Brown]

On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 11:46:34AM -0300, Werner Almesberger wrote:

> It's indeed an interesting question whether we should try to introduce
> a more comprehensive API for this. There is other platform-specific
> PMU support in the kernel, so I'd lean towards leaving that task for
> later, also since a proper design may take a while. The

A combination of the regulator API (which Andy pointed at previously)
and the power source API probably ought to be able to cover this?

> I think it would be nice if the PCF50633 driver (~2700 lines) could
> be broken down into its functional parts, e.g., regulators, RTC,
> charger, and so on, also because this would make it clearer which
> part needs which API. For example, the regulators don't care about
> RTC, yet they "see" the API because they're in the same file with
> the RTC part.

FWIW the current trend for these highly integrated chips is to ship a
core driver in drivers/mfd (often not actually using the framework for
I2C devices) then hang other drivers off this one.