From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: James Bottomley Subject: Re: [PATCH] scsi: delete decade+ obsolete aic7xxx_old driver Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 15:10:07 -0500 Message-ID: <1379448607.2213.16.camel@dabdike> References: <52386730.4060508@suse.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE Return-path: In-Reply-To: <52386730.4060508@suse.de> Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org To: Hannes Reinecke Cc: Doug Ledford , Paul Gortmaker , linux-scsi list , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-scsi@vger.kernel.org On Tue, 2013-09-17 at 16:29 +0200, Hannes Reinecke wrote: > On 09/17/2013 04:13 AM, Doug Ledford wrote: > > Yes, this driver is well past ready to be removed. > >=20 > > Acked-by: Doug Ledford > >=20 > > Sent from my ASUS Pad > >=20 > > Paul Gortmaker wrote: > >=20 > >> After getting warnings in an allyesconfig build[1] from this > >> driver, I decided to remind myself just how old it was, and > >> whether it warranted fixing. In the Kconfig help text, I found: > >> > >> "This driver will eventually be phased out entirely" > >> > >> Going back to the history archive, I see the line was added[2] > >> in Feb 2002, when we moved from v2.4.2.1 ---> v2.4.2.2 > >> > >> So, with over a decade of notification, and multiple major release= s > >> since then, I think we can justify removing this. Currently we ha= ve > >> people wasting time building it during routine testing, and then > >> wasting more time re-researching the known reported warnings, only= to > >> find that nobody really is willing to integrate the fixes[3] for i= t. > >> > >> A quick search didn't seem to indicate any active user base for it= =2E > >> If someone happens to have a quirky _old_ card that the eleven yea= r > >> old "new" driver doesn't work with, then it is entirely reasonable > >> that they stick with a kernel version that predates this removal. > >> > >> [1] drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c: In function =E2=80=98aic7xxx_regis= ter=E2=80=99: > >> drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c:7901:5: warning: case value =E2=80=98= 257=E2=80=99 not in enumerated type =E2=80=98ahc_chip=E2=80=99 [-Wswitc= h] > >> drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c:7898:5: warning: case value =E2=80=98= 513=E2=80=99 not in enumerated type =E2=80=98ahc_chip=E2=80=99 [-Wswitc= h] > >> drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c: In function =E2=80=98aic7xxx_load_s= eeprom=E2=80=99: > >> drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c:8517:5: warning: case value =E2=80=98= 257=E2=80=99 not in enumerated type =E2=80=98ahc_chip=E2=80=99 [-Wswitc= h] > >> drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c:8510:5: warning: case value =E2=80=98= 513=E2=80=99 not in enumerated type =E2=80=98ahc_chip=E2=80=99 [-Wswitc= h] > >> > >> [2] http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/tglx/history.git c= ommit 44e8778c > >> > >> [3] https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/10/29/215 > >> > >> Cc: Hannes Reinecke > >> Cc: Doug Ledford > >> Cc: "James E.J. Bottomley" > >> Signed-off-by: Paul Gortmaker >=20 > However, if we do this we're removing support for any non-PCI based > adapters. I personally doubt that there are any installations left > running on (E)ISA or VLB. But we should be clear on this. Actually, that's not true: the aic7xxx driver has support for EISA (I know because I've got one) but not the VLB and some of the really old cards. > In general I'm in favour removing obsolete drivers, so OK, so do we have any real evidence that no-one uses this driver? Does any distro actually compile it, for instance? James