[Pull Request][Natty] sparse-keymap backports to aid in hotkey debugging

[Seth Forshee]

On Wed, Apr 06, 2011 at 07:54:31AM -0600, Tim Gardner wrote:
> On 04/06/2011 07:39 AM, Seth Forshee wrote:
> >On Wed, Apr 06, 2011 at 07:05:03AM -0600, Tim Gardner wrote:
> >>On 04/05/2011 09:55 PM, Seth Forshee wrote:
> >>>git://kernel.ubuntu.com/sforshee/ubuntu-natty.git sparse-backports
> >>>
> >>
> >>applied - don't forget to propose for stable (which seems
> >>appropriate in this case).
> >
> >Huh, I wasn't thinking of these as stable material, since they're just
> >helpful for troubleshooting and don't really fix anything. Under what
> >circumstances are non-fix patches accepted in the stable trees? Because
> >I don't really see it described in stable_kernel_rules.txt.
> >
> >Thanks,
> >Seth
> >
> 
> IMHO a stable patch should only address a regression, or be a
> prerequisite for a patch that addresses a regression.

That was my thought. This doesn't address a regression.

> What function do your 2 sparse-keymap patches serve?

When some user has hotkey issues and the ACPI/WMI driver for their
machine uses sparse-keymap, these patches make it possible to diagnose
the issues using userpsace utilities like keymap or input-events.
Without these patches sparse-keymap will either emit only the key code
(with no scan code) or nothing at all, and depending on the driver it
might be necessary to provide a special kernel build with some printk's
to find out what scan codes correspond to the malfunctioning hotkeys.

In short, the patches make it easier for us to debug hotkey issues
reported by users. So they don't seem to be stable material.

Seth