330 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
330 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
The following is a list of files and features that are going to be
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removed in the kernel source tree. Every entry should contain what
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exactly is going away, why it is happening, and who is going to be doing
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the work. When the feature is removed from the kernel, it should also
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be removed from this file.
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---------------------------
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What: MXSER
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When: December 2007
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Why: Old mxser driver is obsoleted by the mxser_new. Give it some time yet
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and remove it.
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Who: Jiri Slaby <jirislaby@gmail.com>
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---------------------------
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What: V4L2 VIDIOC_G_MPEGCOMP and VIDIOC_S_MPEGCOMP
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When: October 2007
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Why: Broken attempt to set MPEG compression parameters. These ioctls are
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not able to implement the wide variety of parameters that can be set
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by hardware MPEG encoders. A new MPEG control mechanism was created
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in kernel 2.6.18 that replaces these ioctls. See the V4L2 specification
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(section 1.9: Extended controls) for more information on this topic.
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Who: Hans Verkuil <hverkuil@xs4all.nl> and
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Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@infradead.org>
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---------------------------
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What: dev->power.power_state
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When: July 2007
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Why: Broken design for runtime control over driver power states, confusing
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driver-internal runtime power management with: mechanisms to support
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system-wide sleep state transitions; event codes that distinguish
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different phases of swsusp "sleep" transitions; and userspace policy
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inputs. This framework was never widely used, and most attempts to
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use it were broken. Drivers should instead be exposing domain-specific
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interfaces either to kernel or to userspace.
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Who: Pavel Machek <pavel@suse.cz>
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---------------------------
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What: old NCR53C9x driver
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When: October 2007
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Why: Replaced by the much better esp_scsi driver. Actual low-level
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driver can be ported over almost trivially.
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Who: David Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
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Christoph Hellwig <hch@lst.de>
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---------------------------
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What: Video4Linux API 1 ioctls and video_decoder.h from Video devices.
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When: December 2006
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Files: include/linux/video_decoder.h
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Why: V4L1 AP1 was replaced by V4L2 API. during migration from 2.4 to 2.6
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series. The old API have lots of drawbacks and don't provide enough
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means to work with all video and audio standards. The newer API is
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already available on the main drivers and should be used instead.
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Newer drivers should use v4l_compat_translate_ioctl function to handle
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old calls, replacing to newer ones.
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Decoder iocts are using internally to allow video drivers to
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communicate with video decoders. This should also be improved to allow
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V4L2 calls being translated into compatible internal ioctls.
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Who: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@brturbo.com.br>
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---------------------------
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What: PCMCIA control ioctl (needed for pcmcia-cs [cardmgr, cardctl])
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When: November 2005
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Files: drivers/pcmcia/: pcmcia_ioctl.c
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Why: With the 16-bit PCMCIA subsystem now behaving (almost) like a
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normal hotpluggable bus, and with it using the default kernel
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infrastructure (hotplug, driver core, sysfs) keeping the PCMCIA
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control ioctl needed by cardmgr and cardctl from pcmcia-cs is
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unnecessary, and makes further cleanups and integration of the
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PCMCIA subsystem into the Linux kernel device driver model more
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difficult. The features provided by cardmgr and cardctl are either
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handled by the kernel itself now or are available in the new
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pcmciautils package available at
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http://kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/
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Who: Dominik Brodowski <linux@brodo.de>
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---------------------------
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What: remove EXPORT_SYMBOL(kernel_thread)
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When: August 2006
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Files: arch/*/kernel/*_ksyms.c
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Funcs: kernel_thread
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Why: kernel_thread is a low-level implementation detail. Drivers should
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use the <linux/kthread.h> API instead which shields them from
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implementation details and provides a higherlevel interface that
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prevents bugs and code duplication
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Who: Christoph Hellwig <hch@lst.de>
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---------------------------
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What: CONFIG_FORCED_INLINING
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When: June 2006
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Why: Config option is there to see if gcc is good enough. (in january
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2006). If it is, the behavior should just be the default. If it's not,
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the option should just go away entirely.
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Who: Arjan van de Ven
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---------------------------
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What: eepro100 network driver
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When: January 2007
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Why: replaced by the e100 driver
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Who: Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>
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---------------------------
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What: Unused EXPORT_SYMBOL/EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL exports
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(temporary transition config option provided until then)
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The transition config option will also be removed at the same time.
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When: before 2.6.19
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Why: Unused symbols are both increasing the size of the kernel binary
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and are often a sign of "wrong API"
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Who: Arjan van de Ven <arjan@linux.intel.com>
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What: USB driver API moves to EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL
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When: February 2008
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Files: include/linux/usb.h, drivers/usb/core/driver.c
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Why: The USB subsystem has changed a lot over time, and it has been
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possible to create userspace USB drivers using usbfs/libusb/gadgetfs
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that operate as fast as the USB bus allows. Because of this, the USB
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subsystem will not be allowing closed source kernel drivers to
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register with it, after this grace period is over. If anyone needs
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any help in converting their closed source drivers over to use the
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userspace filesystems, please contact the
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linux-usb-devel@lists.sourceforge.net mailing list, and the developers
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there will be glad to help you out.
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Who: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@suse.de>
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---------------------------
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What: vm_ops.nopage
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When: Soon, provided in-kernel callers have been converted
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Why: This interface is replaced by vm_ops.fault, but it has been around
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forever, is used by a lot of drivers, and doesn't cost much to
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maintain.
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Who: Nick Piggin <npiggin@suse.de>
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---------------------------
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What: Interrupt only SA_* flags
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When: September 2007
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Why: The interrupt related SA_* flags are replaced by IRQF_* to move them
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out of the signal namespace.
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Who: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
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---------------------------
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What: PHYSDEVPATH, PHYSDEVBUS, PHYSDEVDRIVER in the uevent environment
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When: October 2008
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Why: The stacking of class devices makes these values misleading and
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inconsistent.
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Class devices should not carry any of these properties, and bus
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devices have SUBSYTEM and DRIVER as a replacement.
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Who: Kay Sievers <kay.sievers@suse.de>
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---------------------------
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What: i2c-isa
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When: December 2006
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Why: i2c-isa is a non-sense and doesn't fit in the device driver
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model. Drivers relying on it are better implemented as platform
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drivers.
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Who: Jean Delvare <khali@linux-fr.org>
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---------------------------
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What: i2c_adapter.list
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When: July 2007
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Why: Superfluous, this list duplicates the one maintained by the driver
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core.
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Who: Jean Delvare <khali@linux-fr.org>,
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David Brownell <dbrownell@users.sourceforge.net>
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---------------------------
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What: drivers depending on OBSOLETE_OSS
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When: options in 2.6.22, code in 2.6.24
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Why: OSS drivers with ALSA replacements
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Who: Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>
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---------------------------
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What: /sys/firmware/acpi/namespace
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When: 2.6.21
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Why: The ACPI namespace is effectively the symbol list for
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the BIOS. The device names are completely arbitrary
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and have no place being exposed to user-space.
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For those interested in the BIOS ACPI namespace,
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the BIOS can be extracted and disassembled with acpidump
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and iasl as documented in the pmtools package here:
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http://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/lenb/acpi/utils
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Who: Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com>
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---------------------------
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What: ACPI procfs interface
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When: July 2007
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Why: After ACPI sysfs conversion, ACPI attributes will be duplicated
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in sysfs and the ACPI procfs interface should be removed.
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Who: Zhang Rui <rui.zhang@intel.com>
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---------------------------
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What: /proc/acpi/button
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When: August 2007
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Why: /proc/acpi/button has been replaced by events to the input layer
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since 2.6.20.
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Who: Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com>
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---------------------------
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What: Compaq touchscreen device emulation
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When: Oct 2007
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Files: drivers/input/tsdev.c
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Why: The code says it was obsolete when it was written in 2001.
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tslib is a userspace library which does anything tsdev can do and
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much more besides in userspace where this code belongs. There is no
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longer any need for tsdev and applications should have converted to
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use tslib by now.
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The name "tsdev" is also extremely confusing and lots of people have
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it loaded when they don't need/use it.
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Who: Richard Purdie <rpurdie@rpsys.net>
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---------------------------
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What: read_dev_chars(), read_conf_data{,_lpm}() (s390 common I/O layer)
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When: December 2007
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Why: These functions are a leftover from 2.4 times. They have several
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problems:
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- Duplication of checks that are done in the device driver's
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interrupt handler
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- common I/O layer can't do device specific error recovery
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- device driver can't be notified for conditions happening during
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execution of the function
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Device drivers should issue the read device characteristics and read
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configuration data ccws and do the appropriate error handling
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themselves.
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Who: Cornelia Huck <cornelia.huck@de.ibm.com>
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---------------------------
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What: i2c-ixp2000, i2c-ixp4xx and scx200_i2c drivers
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When: September 2007
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Why: Obsolete. The new i2c-gpio driver replaces all hardware-specific
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I2C-over-GPIO drivers.
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Who: Jean Delvare <khali@linux-fr.org>
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---------------------------
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What: 'time' kernel boot parameter
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When: January 2008
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Why: replaced by 'printk.time=<value>' so that printk timestamps can be
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enabled or disabled as needed
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Who: Randy Dunlap <randy.dunlap@oracle.com>
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---------------------------
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What: drivers depending on OSS_OBSOLETE
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When: options in 2.6.23, code in 2.6.25
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Why: obsolete OSS drivers
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Who: Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>
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---------------------------
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What: libata spindown skipping and warning
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When: Dec 2008
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Why: Some halt(8) implementations synchronize caches for and spin
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down libata disks because libata didn't use to spin down disk on
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system halt (only synchronized caches).
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Spin down on system halt is now implemented. sysfs node
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/sys/class/scsi_disk/h:c:i:l/manage_start_stop is present if
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spin down support is available.
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Because issuing spin down command to an already spun down disk
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makes some disks spin up just to spin down again, libata tracks
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device spindown status to skip the extra spindown command and
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warn about it.
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This is to give userspace tools the time to get updated and will
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be removed after userspace is reasonably updated.
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Who: Tejun Heo <htejun@gmail.com>
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---------------------------
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What: Legacy RTC drivers (under drivers/i2c/chips)
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When: November 2007
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Why: Obsolete. We have a RTC subsystem with better drivers.
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Who: Jean Delvare <khali@linux-fr.org>
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---------------------------
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What: iptables SAME target
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When: 1.1. 2008
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Files: net/ipv4/netfilter/ipt_SAME.c, include/linux/netfilter_ipv4/ipt_SAME.h
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Why: Obsolete for multiple years now, NAT core provides the same behaviour.
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Unfixable broken wrt. 32/64 bit cleanness.
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Who: Patrick McHardy <kaber@trash.net>
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---------------------------
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What: The arch/ppc and include/asm-ppc directories
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When: Jun 2008
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Why: The arch/powerpc tree is the merged architecture for ppc32 and ppc64
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platforms. Currently there are efforts underway to port the remaining
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arch/ppc platforms to the merged tree. New submissions to the arch/ppc
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tree have been frozen with the 2.6.22 kernel release and that tree will
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remain in bug-fix only mode until its scheduled removal. Platforms
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that are not ported by June 2008 will be removed due to the lack of an
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interested maintainer.
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Who: linuxppc-dev@ozlabs.org
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---------------------------
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What: mthca driver's MSI support
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When: January 2008
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Files: drivers/infiniband/hw/mthca/*.[ch]
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Why: All mthca hardware also supports MSI-X, which provides
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strictly more functionality than MSI. So there is no point in
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having both MSI-X and MSI support in the driver.
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Who: Roland Dreier <rolandd@cisco.com>
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---------------------------
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