[PATCH] BLOCK: Make it possible to disable the block layer [try #6]

Make it possible to disable the block layer.  Not all embedded devices require
it, some can make do with just JFFS2, NFS, ramfs, etc - none of which require
the block layer to be present.

This patch does the following:

 (*) Introduces CONFIG_BLOCK to disable the block layer, buffering and blockdev
     support.

 (*) Adds dependencies on CONFIG_BLOCK to any configuration item that controls
     an item that uses the block layer.  This includes:

     (*) Block I/O tracing.

     (*) Disk partition code.

     (*) All filesystems that are block based, eg: Ext3, ReiserFS, ISOFS.

     (*) The SCSI layer.  As far as I can tell, even SCSI chardevs use the
     	 block layer to do scheduling.  Some drivers that use SCSI facilities -
     	 such as USB storage - end up disabled indirectly from this.

     (*) Various block-based device drivers, such as IDE and the old CDROM
     	 drivers.

     (*) MTD blockdev handling and FTL.

     (*) JFFS - which uses set_bdev_super(), something it could avoid doing by
     	 taking a leaf out of JFFS2's book.

 (*) Makes most of the contents of linux/blkdev.h, linux/buffer_head.h and
     linux/elevator.h contingent on CONFIG_BLOCK being set.  sector_div() is,
     however, still used in places, and so is still available.

 (*) Also made contingent are the contents of linux/mpage.h, linux/genhd.h and
     parts of linux/fs.h.

 (*) Makes a number of files in fs/ contingent on CONFIG_BLOCK.

 (*) Makes mm/bounce.c (bounce buffering) contingent on CONFIG_BLOCK.

 (*) set_page_dirty() doesn't call __set_page_dirty_buffers() if CONFIG_BLOCK
     is not enabled.

 (*) fs/no-block.c is created to hold out-of-line stubs and things that are
     required when CONFIG_BLOCK is not set:

     (*) Default blockdev file operations (to give error ENODEV on opening).

 (*) Makes some /proc changes:

     (*) /proc/devices does not list any blockdevs.

     (*) /proc/diskstats and /proc/partitions are contingent on CONFIG_BLOCK.

 (*) Makes some compat ioctl handling contingent on CONFIG_BLOCK.

 (*) If CONFIG_BLOCK is not defined, makes sys_quotactl() return -ENODEV if
     given command other than Q_SYNC or if a special device is specified.

 (*) In init/do_mounts.c, no reference is made to the blockdev routines if
     CONFIG_BLOCK is not defined.  This does not prohibit NFS roots or JFFS2.

 (*) The bdflush, ioprio_set and ioprio_get syscalls can now be absent (return
     error ENOSYS by way of cond_syscall if so).

 (*) The seclvl_bd_claim() and seclvl_bd_release() security calls do nothing if
     CONFIG_BLOCK is not set, since they can't then happen.

Signed-Off-By: David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk>

1 files changed, 20 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/block/Kconfig b/block/Kconfig
index b6f5f0a79655..9af6c614dfde 100644
--- a/block/Kconfig
+++ b/block/Kconfig
@@ -1,6 +1,24 @@
 #
 # Block layer core configuration
 #
+config BLOCK
+       bool "Enable the block layer"
+       default y
+       help
+         This permits the block layer to be removed from the kernel if it's not
+         needed (on some embedded devices for example).  If this option is
+         disabled, then blockdev files will become unusable and some
+         filesystems (such as ext3) will become unavailable.
+
+         This option will also disable SCSI character devices and USB storage
+         since they make use of various block layer definitions and
+         facilities.
+
+         Say Y here unless you know you really don't want to mount disks and
+         suchlike.
+
+if BLOCK
+
 #XXX - it makes sense to enable this only for 32-bit subarch's, not for x86_64
 #for instance.
 config LBD
@@ -33,4 +51,6 @@ config LSF
 
           If unsure, say Y.
 
+endif
+
 source block/Kconfig.iosched