mm/hotplug, x86: Disable ARCH_MEMORY_PROBE by default

CONFIG_ARCH_MEMORY_PROBE enables the
/sys/devices/system/memory/probe interface, which allows a given
memory address to be hot-added as follows:

 # echo start_address_of_new_memory > /sys/devices/system/memory/probe

(See Documentation/memory-hotplug.txt for more details.)

This probe interface is required on powerpc. On x86, however,
ACPI notifies a memory hotplug event to the kernel, which
performs its hotplug operation as the result.

Therefore, regular users do not need this interface on x86. This probe
interface is also error-prone and misleading that the kernel blindly
adds a given memory address without checking if the memory is present
on the system; no probing is done despite of its name.

The kernel crashes when a user requests to online a memory block
that is not present on the system. This interface is currently
used for testing as it can fake a hotplug event.

This patch disables CONFIG_ARCH_MEMORY_PROBE by default on x86,
adds its Kconfig menu entry on x86, and clarifies its use in
Documentation/ memory-hotplug.txt.

Signed-off-by: Toshi Kani <toshi.kani@hp.com>
Acked-by: KOSAKI Motohiro <kosaki.motohiro@jp.fujitsu.com>
Cc: linux-mm@kvack.org
Cc: dave@sr71.net
Cc: isimatu.yasuaki@jp.fujitsu.com
Cc: tangchen@cn.fujitsu.com
Cc: vasilis.liaskovitis@profitbricks.com
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1374256068-26016-1-git-send-email-toshi.kani@hp.com
[ Edited it slightly. ]
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>

2 files changed, 14 insertions, 8 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/memory-hotplug.txt b/Documentation/memory-hotplug.txt
index 8e5eacbdcfa3..8fd254c73589 100644
--- a/Documentation/memory-hotplug.txt
+++ b/Documentation/memory-hotplug.txt
@@ -210,13 +210,15 @@ If memory device is found, memory hotplug code will be called.
 
 4.2 Notify memory hot-add event by hand
 ------------
-In some environments, especially virtualized environment, firmware will not
-notify memory hotplug event to the kernel. For such environment, "probe"
-interface is supported. This interface depends on CONFIG_ARCH_MEMORY_PROBE.
-
-Now, CONFIG_ARCH_MEMORY_PROBE is supported only by powerpc but it does not
-contain highly architecture codes. Please add config if you need "probe"
-interface.
+On powerpc, the firmware does not notify a memory hotplug event to the kernel.
+Therefore, "probe" interface is supported to notify the event to the kernel.
+This interface depends on CONFIG_ARCH_MEMORY_PROBE.
+
+CONFIG_ARCH_MEMORY_PROBE is supported on powerpc only. On x86, this config
+option is disabled by default since ACPI notifies a memory hotplug event to
+the kernel, which performs its hotplug operation as the result. Please
+enable this option if you need the "probe" interface for testing purposes
+on x86.
 
 Probe interface is located at
 /sys/devices/system/memory/probe
diff --git a/arch/x86/Kconfig b/arch/x86/Kconfig
index b32ebf92b0ce..2f9d95775d27 100644
--- a/arch/x86/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/x86/Kconfig
@@ -1344,8 +1344,12 @@ config ARCH_SELECT_MEMORY_MODEL
         depends on ARCH_SPARSEMEM_ENABLE
 
 config ARCH_MEMORY_PROBE
-        def_bool y
+        bool "Enable sysfs memory/probe interface"
         depends on X86_64 && MEMORY_HOTPLUG
+        help
+          This option enables a sysfs memory/probe interface for testing.
+          See Documentation/memory-hotplug.txt for more information.
+          If you are unsure how to answer this question, answer N.
 
 config ARCH_PROC_KCORE_TEXT
         def_bool y