Re: [2.6 patch] ieee1394_core.c: remove unneeded EXPORT_SYMBOL's

Alan Cox
2004-12-21T01:46:39Z

On Llu, 2004-12-20 at 23:02, Adrian Bunk wrote:
> > What if the driver is under development and doesn't work yet?
>
> For a driver developer, it shouldn't be a big problem to re-add an
> EXPORT_SYMBOL or even to undo an #if 0 of a currently unused function.

Except that the driver author now has to compile entire kernels, can't
redistribute it easily to others for testing without them all rebuilding
the kernel and has no idea of what things the author intended to be API.
In this case it isnt a clean up, but a game plan to reduce the amount
and quality of driver submission.

On this one you've clearly gone too far. USB had a pile of API functions
before drivers used them, video4linux did the same and that made sense
just like this does. Tidy it up in 12-18 months when the drivers exist
to know what is worth keeping and what should be removed.

Alan