Re: [2.6 patch] remove CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL

Pavel Machek
2007-11-26T16:52:58Z

On Sun 2007-11-25 17:16:31, Adrian Bunk wrote:
> This patch removes the EXPERIMENTAL option and all dependencies on
> EXPERIMENTAL because they are pointless.
>
> Complete rationale:
> - Many people and all distributions are currently forced to enable
> CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL since the options for many device drivers depend
> on this option.
> I have yet to see someone not being able to install his favorite
> distribution on his computer only because the distribution did choose
> to disable all SATA drivers with dependencies on EXPERIMENTAL in their
> kernels...
> - History has shown that often the dependency on EXPERIMENTAL is not
> removed when the code has proven usable.
> As an example, is our NFSv4 support really still in an
> "alpha-test phase" [1], or is it already ready for being used?
> I don't know the answer in this specific case, but I wouldn't answer
> "still in an alpha-test phase" only based on the fact that the NFSv4
> options still depend on EXPERIMENTAL.
> - It might have been differently 10 years ago, but today everything that
> is available in a released kernel should also be in a usable state.
>
> [1] quoted from the CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL help text

I don't think this is good idea. But perhaps 'experimental' should be
removed from stuff that is really stable these days, like SATA?

Pavel
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