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authorIngo Molnar2015-09-05 08:58:10 +0200
committerIngo Molnar2015-09-14 10:50:00 +0200
commit1e6428124fe22906be0de1622c8fed8e50e5de05 (patch)
treead9771d7b2c225746bc9f9a5999fce65fe5520cd /arch/x86/Kconfig
parentx86/cpu: Print family/model/stepping in hex (diff)
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x86/vm86: Fix the misleading CONFIG_VM86 Kconfig help text
The CONFIG_VM86 Kconfig help text is actively misleading, so fix it: - Don't mark it 'obsolete' in the text as we'll support the ABI as long as CPUs support it. - Qualify the part about software emulation and mention that for some apps you want a real vm86 mode. - Don't scare users away from the option, instead explain what it does. Reported-by: Stas Sergeev <stsp@list.ru> Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org> Cc: Arjan van de Ven <arjan@linux.intel.com> Cc: Austin S Hemmelgarn <ahferroin7@gmail.com> Cc: Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de> Cc: Brian Gerst <brgerst@gmail.com> Cc: Josh Boyer <jwboyer@fedoraproject.org> Cc: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org> Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> Cc: Matthew Garrett <mjg59@srcf.ucam.org> Cc: Oleg Nesterov <oleg@redhat.com> Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'arch/x86/Kconfig')
-rw-r--r--arch/x86/Kconfig23
1 files changed, 12 insertions, 11 deletions
diff --git a/arch/x86/Kconfig b/arch/x86/Kconfig
index 48f7433dac6f..d28815325ef0 100644
--- a/arch/x86/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/x86/Kconfig
@@ -1004,7 +1004,7 @@ config X86_THERMAL_VECTOR
depends on X86_MCE_INTEL
config X86_LEGACY_VM86
- bool "Legacy VM86 support (obsolete)"
+ bool "Legacy VM86 support"
default n
depends on X86_32
---help---
@@ -1016,19 +1016,20 @@ config X86_LEGACY_VM86
available to accelerate real mode DOS programs. However, any
recent version of DOSEMU, X, or vbetool should be fully
functional even without kernel VM86 support, as they will all
- fall back to (pretty well performing) software emulation.
+ fall back to software emulation. Nevertheless, if you are using
+ a 16-bit DOS program where 16-bit performance matters, vm86
+ mode might be faster than emulation and you might want to
+ enable this option.
- Anything that works on a 64-bit kernel is unlikely to need
- this option, as 64-bit kernels don't, and can't, support V8086
- mode. This option is also unrelated to 16-bit protected mode
- and is not needed to run most 16-bit programs under Wine.
+ Note that any app that works on a 64-bit kernel is unlikely to
+ need this option, as 64-bit kernels don't, and can't, support
+ V8086 mode. This option is also unrelated to 16-bit protected
+ mode and is not needed to run most 16-bit programs under Wine.
- Enabling this option adds considerable attack surface to the
- kernel and slows down system calls and exception handling.
+ Enabling this option increases the complexity of the kernel
+ and slows down exception handling a tiny bit.
- Unless you use very old userspace or need the last drop of
- performance in your real mode DOS games and can't use KVM,
- say N here.
+ If unsure, say N here.
config VM86
bool