From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1754110AbXDPO5y (ORCPT ); Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:57:54 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1754117AbXDPO5y (ORCPT ); Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:57:54 -0400 Received: from mailout.stusta.mhn.de ([141.84.69.5]:52158 "EHLO mailhub.stusta.mhn.de" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1030727AbXDPO5x (ORCPT ); Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:57:53 -0400 Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:58:01 +0200 From: Adrian Bunk To: "Robert P. J. Day" Cc: Jesper Juhl , Linux Kernel Mailing List Subject: Re: so what *is* obsolete and removable? Message-ID: <20070416145801.GE10338@stusta.de> References: <9a8748490704151450i251b8b1av8439bc275e982866@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.15+20070412 (2007-04-11) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Mon, Apr 16, 2007 at 10:44:52AM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote: > On Sun, 15 Apr 2007, Jesper Juhl wrote: > > > On 15/04/07, Robert P. J. Day wrote: > > > > > > in a recent posting, ian anderson suggested that, before kernel > > > features are removed, they should spend a reasonable amount of > > > time in the feature removal file to give everyone fair warning. > > > if that's the case, then there are a *bunch* of things that should > > > perhaps be added to that file real soon now just to start the > > > clock ticking. > > > > > [snip] > > > ./sound/oss/Kconfig: bool "Obsolete OSS drivers" > > > ./sound/oss/Kconfig: This option enables support for obsolete OSS > > > drivers that > > > > > > clearly, that was a fairly brainless search, but it still > > > reveals a pile of stuff that's "obsolete" (whatever that means in > > > the context in which it's used). so what's really obsolete? > > > > > IIRC Adrian Bunk is handling the removal of obsolete OSS drivers and > > doing a nice job at it. Dunno about the rest of the stuff. > > oh, i realize that a number of those examples from my earlier post > were already handled/being handled (i don't even look under OSS these > days when doing any cleanup). > > my point was that, if ian's position is valid and stuff shouldn't be > removed without fair warning, then a lot of that stuff should get > entered into the feature removal file real soon now. If you remove false positives from your grep result, "a lot" turns into a relatively small number. But generally, you should try to ask the maintainers of the subsystem first what they think. Whether to remove something now, in 6 months, or not, can then be decided. > rday > > p.s. again, if you run the simple grep i mentioned before: > > $ grep -iw obsolete $(find . -name Kconfig\*) > > you find some odd combinations, such as this from net/ipv4/Kconfig: > > config ARPD > bool "IP: ARP daemon support (EXPERIMENTAL)" > depends on EXPERIMENTAL > ---help--- > ... > This code is experimental and also obsolete... > > the thought of something being both experimental *and* obsolete is a > bit weird, is it not? It is not weird: It was never more than experimental, and now it's obsolete. cu Adrian -- "Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days. "Only a promise," Lao Er said. Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed