325 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
325 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
The following is a list of files and features that are going to be
|
|
removed in the kernel source tree. Every entry should contain what
|
|
exactly is going away, why it is happening, and who is going to be doing
|
|
the work. When the feature is removed from the kernel, it should also
|
|
be removed from this file.
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: MXSER
|
|
When: December 2007
|
|
Why: Old mxser driver is obsoleted by the mxser_new. Give it some time yet
|
|
and remove it.
|
|
Who: Jiri Slaby <jirislaby@gmail.com>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: dev->power.power_state
|
|
When: July 2007
|
|
Why: Broken design for runtime control over driver power states, confusing
|
|
driver-internal runtime power management with: mechanisms to support
|
|
system-wide sleep state transitions; event codes that distinguish
|
|
different phases of swsusp "sleep" transitions; and userspace policy
|
|
inputs. This framework was never widely used, and most attempts to
|
|
use it were broken. Drivers should instead be exposing domain-specific
|
|
interfaces either to kernel or to userspace.
|
|
Who: Pavel Machek <pavel@suse.cz>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: old NCR53C9x driver
|
|
When: October 2007
|
|
Why: Replaced by the much better esp_scsi driver. Actual low-level
|
|
driver can be ported over almost trivially.
|
|
Who: David Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
|
|
Christoph Hellwig <hch@lst.de>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: Video4Linux API 1 ioctls and video_decoder.h from Video devices.
|
|
When: December 2008
|
|
Files: include/linux/video_decoder.h include/linux/videodev.h
|
|
Check: include/linux/video_decoder.h include/linux/videodev.h
|
|
Why: V4L1 AP1 was replaced by V4L2 API during migration from 2.4 to 2.6
|
|
series. The old API have lots of drawbacks and don't provide enough
|
|
means to work with all video and audio standards. The newer API is
|
|
already available on the main drivers and should be used instead.
|
|
Newer drivers should use v4l_compat_translate_ioctl function to handle
|
|
old calls, replacing to newer ones.
|
|
Decoder iocts are using internally to allow video drivers to
|
|
communicate with video decoders. This should also be improved to allow
|
|
V4L2 calls being translated into compatible internal ioctls.
|
|
Compatibility ioctls will be provided, for a while, via
|
|
v4l1-compat module.
|
|
Who: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@infradead.org>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: PCMCIA control ioctl (needed for pcmcia-cs [cardmgr, cardctl])
|
|
When: November 2005
|
|
Files: drivers/pcmcia/: pcmcia_ioctl.c
|
|
Why: With the 16-bit PCMCIA subsystem now behaving (almost) like a
|
|
normal hotpluggable bus, and with it using the default kernel
|
|
infrastructure (hotplug, driver core, sysfs) keeping the PCMCIA
|
|
control ioctl needed by cardmgr and cardctl from pcmcia-cs is
|
|
unnecessary, and makes further cleanups and integration of the
|
|
PCMCIA subsystem into the Linux kernel device driver model more
|
|
difficult. The features provided by cardmgr and cardctl are either
|
|
handled by the kernel itself now or are available in the new
|
|
pcmciautils package available at
|
|
http://kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/
|
|
Who: Dominik Brodowski <linux@brodo.de>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: sys_sysctl
|
|
When: September 2010
|
|
Option: CONFIG_SYSCTL_SYSCALL
|
|
Why: The same information is available in a more convenient from
|
|
/proc/sys, and none of the sysctl variables appear to be
|
|
important performance wise.
|
|
|
|
Binary sysctls are a long standing source of subtle kernel
|
|
bugs and security issues.
|
|
|
|
When I looked several months ago all I could find after
|
|
searching several distributions were 5 user space programs and
|
|
glibc (which falls back to /proc/sys) using this syscall.
|
|
|
|
The man page for sysctl(2) documents it as unusable for user
|
|
space programs.
|
|
|
|
sysctl(2) is not generally ABI compatible to a 32bit user
|
|
space application on a 64bit and a 32bit kernel.
|
|
|
|
For the last several months the policy has been no new binary
|
|
sysctls and no one has put forward an argument to use them.
|
|
|
|
Binary sysctls issues seem to keep happening appearing so
|
|
properly deprecating them (with a warning to user space) and a
|
|
2 year grace warning period will mean eventually we can kill
|
|
them and end the pain.
|
|
|
|
In the mean time individual binary sysctls can be dealt with
|
|
in a piecewise fashion.
|
|
|
|
Who: Eric Biederman <ebiederm@xmission.com>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: a.out interpreter support for ELF executables
|
|
When: 2.6.25
|
|
Files: fs/binfmt_elf.c
|
|
Why: Using a.out interpreters for ELF executables was a feature for
|
|
transition from a.out to ELF. But now it is unlikely to be still
|
|
needed anymore and removing it would simplify the hairy ELF
|
|
loader code.
|
|
Who: Andi Kleen <ak@suse.de>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: remove EXPORT_SYMBOL(kernel_thread)
|
|
When: August 2006
|
|
Files: arch/*/kernel/*_ksyms.c
|
|
Check: kernel_thread
|
|
Why: kernel_thread is a low-level implementation detail. Drivers should
|
|
use the <linux/kthread.h> API instead which shields them from
|
|
implementation details and provides a higherlevel interface that
|
|
prevents bugs and code duplication
|
|
Who: Christoph Hellwig <hch@lst.de>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: CONFIG_FORCED_INLINING
|
|
When: June 2006
|
|
Why: Config option is there to see if gcc is good enough. (in january
|
|
2006). If it is, the behavior should just be the default. If it's not,
|
|
the option should just go away entirely.
|
|
Who: Arjan van de Ven
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: eepro100 network driver
|
|
When: January 2007
|
|
Why: replaced by the e100 driver
|
|
Who: Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: Unused EXPORT_SYMBOL/EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL exports
|
|
(temporary transition config option provided until then)
|
|
The transition config option will also be removed at the same time.
|
|
When: before 2.6.19
|
|
Why: Unused symbols are both increasing the size of the kernel binary
|
|
and are often a sign of "wrong API"
|
|
Who: Arjan van de Ven <arjan@linux.intel.com>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: USB driver API moves to EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL
|
|
When: February 2008
|
|
Files: include/linux/usb.h, drivers/usb/core/driver.c
|
|
Why: The USB subsystem has changed a lot over time, and it has been
|
|
possible to create userspace USB drivers using usbfs/libusb/gadgetfs
|
|
that operate as fast as the USB bus allows. Because of this, the USB
|
|
subsystem will not be allowing closed source kernel drivers to
|
|
register with it, after this grace period is over. If anyone needs
|
|
any help in converting their closed source drivers over to use the
|
|
userspace filesystems, please contact the
|
|
linux-usb-devel@lists.sourceforge.net mailing list, and the developers
|
|
there will be glad to help you out.
|
|
Who: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@suse.de>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: vm_ops.nopage
|
|
When: Soon, provided in-kernel callers have been converted
|
|
Why: This interface is replaced by vm_ops.fault, but it has been around
|
|
forever, is used by a lot of drivers, and doesn't cost much to
|
|
maintain.
|
|
Who: Nick Piggin <npiggin@suse.de>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: PHYSDEVPATH, PHYSDEVBUS, PHYSDEVDRIVER in the uevent environment
|
|
When: October 2008
|
|
Why: The stacking of class devices makes these values misleading and
|
|
inconsistent.
|
|
Class devices should not carry any of these properties, and bus
|
|
devices have SUBSYTEM and DRIVER as a replacement.
|
|
Who: Kay Sievers <kay.sievers@suse.de>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: ACPI procfs interface
|
|
When: July 2008
|
|
Why: ACPI sysfs conversion should be finished by January 2008.
|
|
ACPI procfs interface will be removed in July 2008 so that
|
|
there is enough time for the user space to catch up.
|
|
Who: Zhang Rui <rui.zhang@intel.com>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: /proc/acpi/button
|
|
When: August 2007
|
|
Why: /proc/acpi/button has been replaced by events to the input layer
|
|
since 2.6.20.
|
|
Who: Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: /proc/acpi/event
|
|
When: February 2008
|
|
Why: /proc/acpi/event has been replaced by events via the input layer
|
|
and netlink since 2.6.23.
|
|
Who: Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: 'time' kernel boot parameter
|
|
When: January 2008
|
|
Why: replaced by 'printk.time=<value>' so that printk timestamps can be
|
|
enabled or disabled as needed
|
|
Who: Randy Dunlap <randy.dunlap@oracle.com>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: drivers depending on OSS_OBSOLETE
|
|
When: options in 2.6.23, code in 2.6.25
|
|
Why: obsolete OSS drivers
|
|
Who: Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: libata spindown skipping and warning
|
|
When: Dec 2008
|
|
Why: Some halt(8) implementations synchronize caches for and spin
|
|
down libata disks because libata didn't use to spin down disk on
|
|
system halt (only synchronized caches).
|
|
Spin down on system halt is now implemented. sysfs node
|
|
/sys/class/scsi_disk/h:c:i:l/manage_start_stop is present if
|
|
spin down support is available.
|
|
Because issuing spin down command to an already spun down disk
|
|
makes some disks spin up just to spin down again, libata tracks
|
|
device spindown status to skip the extra spindown command and
|
|
warn about it.
|
|
This is to give userspace tools the time to get updated and will
|
|
be removed after userspace is reasonably updated.
|
|
Who: Tejun Heo <htejun@gmail.com>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: The arch/ppc and include/asm-ppc directories
|
|
When: Jun 2008
|
|
Why: The arch/powerpc tree is the merged architecture for ppc32 and ppc64
|
|
platforms. Currently there are efforts underway to port the remaining
|
|
arch/ppc platforms to the merged tree. New submissions to the arch/ppc
|
|
tree have been frozen with the 2.6.22 kernel release and that tree will
|
|
remain in bug-fix only mode until its scheduled removal. Platforms
|
|
that are not ported by June 2008 will be removed due to the lack of an
|
|
interested maintainer.
|
|
Who: linuxppc-dev@ozlabs.org
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: sk98lin network driver
|
|
When: Feburary 2008
|
|
Why: In kernel tree version of driver is unmaintained. Sk98lin driver
|
|
replaced by the skge driver.
|
|
Who: Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@linux-foundation.org>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: i386/x86_64 bzImage symlinks
|
|
When: April 2008
|
|
|
|
Why: The i386/x86_64 merge provides a symlink to the old bzImage
|
|
location so not yet updated user space tools, e.g. package
|
|
scripts, do not break.
|
|
Who: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: shaper network driver
|
|
When: January 2008
|
|
Files: drivers/net/shaper.c, include/linux/if_shaper.h
|
|
Why: This driver has been marked obsolete for many years.
|
|
It was only designed to work on lower speed links and has design
|
|
flaws that lead to machine crashes. The qdisc infrastructure in
|
|
2.4 or later kernels, provides richer features and is more robust.
|
|
Who: Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@linux-foundation.org>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: i2c-i810, i2c-prosavage and i2c-savage4
|
|
When: May 2008
|
|
Why: These drivers are superseded by i810fb, intelfb and savagefb.
|
|
Who: Jean Delvare <khali@linux-fr.org>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: bcm43xx wireless network driver
|
|
When: 2.6.26
|
|
Files: drivers/net/wireless/bcm43xx
|
|
Why: This driver's functionality has been replaced by the
|
|
mac80211-based b43 and b43legacy drivers.
|
|
Who: John W. Linville <linville@tuxdriver.com>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: ieee80211 softmac wireless networking component
|
|
When: 2.6.26 (or after removal of bcm43xx and port of zd1211rw to mac80211)
|
|
Files: net/ieee80211/softmac
|
|
Why: No in-kernel drivers will depend on it any longer.
|
|
Who: John W. Linville <linville@tuxdriver.com>
|
|
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
What: rc80211-simple rate control algorithm for mac80211
|
|
When: 2.6.26
|
|
Files: net/mac80211/rc80211-simple.c
|
|
Why: This algorithm was provided for reference but always exhibited bad
|
|
responsiveness and performance and has some serious flaws. It has been
|
|
replaced by rc80211-pid.
|
|
Who: Stefano Brivio <stefano.brivio@polimi.it>
|