atomisp: drop from staging ?

atomisp: drop from staging ?

[Alan Cox]

I think this is going to be the best option. When I started cleaning up
the atomisp code I had time to work on it. Then spectre/meltdown
happened (which btw is why the updating suddenly and mysteriously stopped
last summer).

I no longer have time to work on it and it's becoming evident that the
world of speculative side channel is going to be mean that I am
not going to get time in the forseeable future despite me trying to find
space to get back into atomisp cleaning up. It sucks because we made some
good initial progress but shit happens.

There are at this point (unsurprisngly ;)) no other volunteers I can
find crazy enough to take this on.

Alan

Re: atomisp: drop from staging ?

[Sakari Ailus]

Hi Alan,

On Sun, Apr 29, 2018 at 01:18:37AM +0100, Alan Cox wrote:
> 
> I think this is going to be the best option. When I started cleaning up
> the atomisp code I had time to work on it. Then spectre/meltdown
> happened (which btw is why the updating suddenly and mysteriously stopped
> last summer).
> 
> I no longer have time to work on it and it's becoming evident that the
> world of speculative side channel is going to be mean that I am
> not going to get time in the forseeable future despite me trying to find
> space to get back into atomisp cleaning up. It sucks because we made some
> good initial progress but shit happens.
> 
> There are at this point (unsurprisngly ;)) no other volunteers I can
> find crazy enough to take this on.

The driver has been in the staging tree for quite some time now and is a
regular target of cleanup patches but little has been done to address the
growing list of entries in the associated TODO file to get it out of
staging. Beyond this, I don't have the hardware but as far as I understand,
the driver is not functional in its current state.

I agree with removing the driver. It can always be brought back if someone
wishes to continue working it.

I can send patches to remove it.

-- 
Regards,

Sakari Ailus
e-mail: sakari.ailus@iki.fi

Re: atomisp: drop from staging ?

[Sakari Ailus]

On Mon, Apr 30, 2018 at 12:41:00PM +0300, Sakari Ailus wrote:
> Hi Alan,
> 
> On Sun, Apr 29, 2018 at 01:18:37AM +0100, Alan Cox wrote:
> > 
> > I think this is going to be the best option. When I started cleaning up
> > the atomisp code I had time to work on it. Then spectre/meltdown
> > happened (which btw is why the updating suddenly and mysteriously stopped
> > last summer).
> > 
> > I no longer have time to work on it and it's becoming evident that the
> > world of speculative side channel is going to be mean that I am
> > not going to get time in the forseeable future despite me trying to find
> > space to get back into atomisp cleaning up. It sucks because we made some
> > good initial progress but shit happens.
> > 
> > There are at this point (unsurprisngly ;)) no other volunteers I can
> > find crazy enough to take this on.
> 
> The driver has been in the staging tree for quite some time now and is a
> regular target of cleanup patches but little has been done to address the
> growing list of entries in the associated TODO file to get it out of
> staging. Beyond this, I don't have the hardware but as far as I understand,
> the driver is not functional in its current state.
> 
> I agree with removing the driver. It can always be brought back if someone
> wishes to continue working it.
> 
> I can send patches to remove it.

The patch didn't make it to the list likely because it was too big --- even
with -D option to git format-patch!

It's here:

<URL:https://git.linuxtv.org/sailus/media_tree.git/log/?h=atomisp-no-more>

Cc Andy, too...

-- 
Sakari Ailus
e-mail: sakari.ailus@iki.fi

Re: atomisp: drop from staging ?

[Mauro Carvalho Chehab]

Em Thu, 3 May 2018 11:30:50 +0300
Sakari Ailus <sakari.ailus@iki.fi> escreveu:

> On Mon, Apr 30, 2018 at 12:41:00PM +0300, Sakari Ailus wrote:
> > Hi Alan,
> > 
> > On Sun, Apr 29, 2018 at 01:18:37AM +0100, Alan Cox wrote:  
> > > 
> > > I think this is going to be the best option. When I started cleaning up
> > > the atomisp code I had time to work on it. Then spectre/meltdown
> > > happened (which btw is why the updating suddenly and mysteriously stopped
> > > last summer).
> > > 
> > > I no longer have time to work on it and it's becoming evident that the
> > > world of speculative side channel is going to be mean that I am
> > > not going to get time in the forseeable future despite me trying to find
> > > space to get back into atomisp cleaning up. It sucks because we made some
> > > good initial progress but shit happens.
> > > 
> > > There are at this point (unsurprisngly ;)) no other volunteers I can
> > > find crazy enough to take this on.  
> > 
> > The driver has been in the staging tree for quite some time now and is a
> > regular target of cleanup patches but little has been done to address the
> > growing list of entries in the associated TODO file to get it out of
> > staging. Beyond this, I don't have the hardware but as far as I understand,
> > the driver is not functional in its current state.
> > 
> > I agree with removing the driver. It can always be brought back if someone
> > wishes to continue working it.
> > 
> > I can send patches to remove it.  
> 
> The patch didn't make it to the list likely because it was too big --- even
> with -D option to git format-patch!
> 
> It's here:
> 
> <URL:https://git.linuxtv.org/sailus/media_tree.git/log/?h=atomisp-no-more>

I really hate remove things like that, but atomisp is on real bad shape.
I'm wandering if at least the sensor drivers could be converted before
dropping it.

That's said, I don't have atomisp hardware either, and, even if I had,
I probably won't have enough time to fix it. So, if you all won't be
able to do any work on it any time soon, and that's what you want
for now, I'm ok with removing it.

Sakari,

Please send me a pull request with the driver removal patch and I'll
apply it.


Thanks,
Mauro

Re: atomisp: drop from staging ?

[Sakari Ailus]

On Fri, May 04, 2018 at 11:17:30AM -0300, Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote:
> Em Thu, 3 May 2018 11:30:50 +0300
> Sakari Ailus <sakari.ailus@iki.fi> escreveu:
> 
> > On Mon, Apr 30, 2018 at 12:41:00PM +0300, Sakari Ailus wrote:
> > > Hi Alan,
> > > 
> > > On Sun, Apr 29, 2018 at 01:18:37AM +0100, Alan Cox wrote:  
> > > > 
> > > > I think this is going to be the best option. When I started cleaning up
> > > > the atomisp code I had time to work on it. Then spectre/meltdown
> > > > happened (which btw is why the updating suddenly and mysteriously stopped
> > > > last summer).
> > > > 
> > > > I no longer have time to work on it and it's becoming evident that the
> > > > world of speculative side channel is going to be mean that I am
> > > > not going to get time in the forseeable future despite me trying to find
> > > > space to get back into atomisp cleaning up. It sucks because we made some
> > > > good initial progress but shit happens.
> > > > 
> > > > There are at this point (unsurprisngly ;)) no other volunteers I can
> > > > find crazy enough to take this on.  
> > > 
> > > The driver has been in the staging tree for quite some time now and is a
> > > regular target of cleanup patches but little has been done to address the
> > > growing list of entries in the associated TODO file to get it out of
> > > staging. Beyond this, I don't have the hardware but as far as I understand,
> > > the driver is not functional in its current state.
> > > 
> > > I agree with removing the driver. It can always be brought back if someone
> > > wishes to continue working it.
> > > 
> > > I can send patches to remove it.  
> > 
> > The patch didn't make it to the list likely because it was too big --- even
> > with -D option to git format-patch!
> > 
> > It's here:
> > 
> > <URL:https://git.linuxtv.org/sailus/media_tree.git/log/?h=atomisp-no-more>
> 
> I really hate remove things like that, but atomisp is on real bad shape.
> I'm wandering if at least the sensor drivers could be converted before
> dropping it.

The sensor drivers depend on atomisp specific interfaces and these drivers
cannot be readily used with another bridge / ISP --- also consider the
hardware likely isn't available either. One option could be to leave them
in the staging tree, but the probability they'd eventually be considered
dead code and removed as-is is very high.

Most of the value in these drivers are likely the register lists but if the
sensors are used elsewhere, these register lists could well be different
due to different external clock frequencies etc.

I'd prefer removing them as well. If someone wishes to continue working on
the atomisp driver and / or the sensor drivers, the patch can always be
reverted.

> 
> That's said, I don't have atomisp hardware either, and, even if I had,
> I probably won't have enough time to fix it. So, if you all won't be
> able to do any work on it any time soon, and that's what you want
> for now, I'm ok with removing it.
> 
> Sakari,
> 
> Please send me a pull request with the driver removal patch and I'll
> apply it.

I will.

-- 
Kind regards,

Sakari Ailus
e-mail: sakari.ailus@iki.fi