4 files changed, 44 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/driver-model/platform.txt b/Documentation/driver-model/platform.txt
index 19c4a6e13676..2a97320ee17f 100644
--- a/Documentation/driver-model/platform.txt
+++ b/Documentation/driver-model/platform.txt
@@ -96,6 +96,46 @@ System setup also associates those clocks with the device, so that that
 calls to clk_get(&pdev->dev, clock_name) return them as needed.
 
 
+Legacy Drivers:  Device Probing
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Some drivers are not fully converted to the driver model, because they take
+on a non-driver role:  the driver registers its platform device, rather than
+leaving that for system infrastructure.  Such drivers can't be hotplugged
+or coldplugged, since those mechanisms require device creation to be in a
+different system component than the driver.
+
+The only "good" reason for this is to handle older system designs which, like
+original IBM PCs, rely on error-prone "probe-the-hardware" models for hardware
+configuration.  Newer systems have largely abandoned that model, in favor of
+bus-level support for dynamic configuration (PCI, USB), or device tables
+provided by the boot firmware (e.g. PNPACPI on x86).  There are too many
+conflicting options about what might be where, and even educated guesses by
+an operating system will be wrong often enough to make trouble.
+
+This style of driver is discouraged.  If you're updating such a driver,
+please try to move the device enumeration to a more appropriate location,
+outside the driver.  This will usually be cleanup, since such drivers
+tend to already have "normal" modes, such as ones using device nodes that
+were created by PNP or by platform device setup.
+
+None the less, there are some APIs to support such legacy drivers.  Avoid
+using these calls except with such hotplug-deficient drivers.
+
+        struct platform_device *platform_device_alloc(
+                        char *name, unsigned id);
+
+You can use platform_device_alloc() to dynamically allocate a device, which
+you will then initialize with resources and platform_device_register().
+A better solution is usually:
+
+        struct platform_device *platform_device_register_simple(
+                        char *name, unsigned id,
+                        struct resource *res, unsigned nres);
+
+You can use platform_device_register_simple() as a one-step call to allocate
+and register a device.
+
+
 Device Naming and Driver Binding
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 The platform_device.dev.bus_id is the canonical name for the devices.
diff --git a/Documentation/firmware_class/README b/Documentation/firmware_class/README
index e9cc8bb26f7d..c3480aa66ba8 100644
--- a/Documentation/firmware_class/README
+++ b/Documentation/firmware_class/README
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 
  request_firmware() hotplug interface:
  ------------------------------------
-        Copyright (C) 2003 Manuel Estrada Sainz <ranty@debian.org>
+        Copyright (C) 2003 Manuel Estrada Sainz
 
  Why:
  ---
diff --git a/Documentation/firmware_class/firmware_sample_driver.c b/Documentation/firmware_class/firmware_sample_driver.c
index 87feccdb5c9f..6865cbe075ec 100644
--- a/Documentation/firmware_class/firmware_sample_driver.c
+++ b/Documentation/firmware_class/firmware_sample_driver.c
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * firmware_sample_driver.c -
  *
- * Copyright (c) 2003 Manuel Estrada Sainz <ranty@debian.org>
+ * Copyright (c) 2003 Manuel Estrada Sainz
  *
  * Sample code on how to use request_firmware() from drivers.
  *
diff --git a/Documentation/firmware_class/firmware_sample_firmware_class.c b/Documentation/firmware_class/firmware_sample_firmware_class.c
index 9e1b0e4051cd..4994f1f28f8c 100644
--- a/Documentation/firmware_class/firmware_sample_firmware_class.c
+++ b/Documentation/firmware_class/firmware_sample_firmware_class.c
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * firmware_sample_firmware_class.c -
  *
- * Copyright (c) 2003 Manuel Estrada Sainz <ranty@debian.org>
+ * Copyright (c) 2003 Manuel Estrada Sainz
  *
  * NOTE: This is just a probe of concept, if you think that your driver would
  * be well served by this mechanism please contact me first.
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 #include <linux/firmware.h>
 
 
-MODULE_AUTHOR("Manuel Estrada Sainz <ranty@debian.org>");
+MODULE_AUTHOR("Manuel Estrada Sainz");
 MODULE_DESCRIPTION("Hackish sample for using firmware class directly");
 MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");