Comment 52 for bug 187671

I should add, regarding justifiability, that the Ubuntu kernel is already maintaining a patch for a related bug (bug #90271). That patch forces all 8139too devices into PIO mode instead of MMIO mode, the latter being the default in the upstream kernel. Arne's patch makes that other patch obsolete, and is entirely focused on the machines affected by this bug (and 90271, which was a different consequence of the same problem).

I think this is a positive effect, in that people using the 8139too module will get MMIO --as intended upstream-- and no other side effects should be seen on computers other than the laptops associated with this bug. The patch could be justified solely on these grounds.