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[84.160.113.44]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id a640c23a62f3a-a9a06169967sm114645266b.97.2024.10.13.13.28.48 (version=TLS1_3 cipher=TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 bits=128/128); Sun, 13 Oct 2024 13:28:49 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2024 22:28:48 +0200 Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Content-Language: en-US From: Philipp Hortmann Subject: [RFC] ipw2100 ipw2200 ps3_gelic rtl8712 --- Are we ready for wext cleanup? To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Cc: Kalle Valo , "David S . Miller" , Alexandre Belloni , Claudiu Beznea , Geert Uytterhoeven , Geoff Levand , Greg Kroah-Hartman , Jakub Kicinski , Jeff Johnson , Johannes Berg , Larry Finger , Nicolas Ferre , Pavel Machek , Stanislaw Gruszka , Gregory Greenman , linuxppc-dev , linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org, linux-staging@lists.linux.dev, linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org, Arnd Bergmann , Stefan Lippers-Hollmann Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Hi, origin of this question was the following patch series from Arnd Bergmann [PATCH 00/10] Remove obsolete and orphaned wifi drivers https://lore.kernel.org/linux-staging/20231023131953.2876682-1-arnd@kernel.org/ Here the remaining files that use iw_handler_def: drivers/net/ethernet/toshiba/ps3_gelic_wireless.c:static const struct iw_handler_def gelic_wl_wext_handler_def = { drivers/net/wireless/intel/ipw2x00/ipw2100.c:static const struct iw_handler_def ipw2100_wx_handler_def; drivers/net/wireless/intel/ipw2x00/ipw2100.c:static const struct iw_handler_def ipw2100_wx_handler_def = { drivers/net/wireless/intel/ipw2x00/ipw2200.c:static const struct iw_handler_def ipw_wx_handler_def = { drivers/staging/rtl8712/os_intfs.c: pnetdev->wireless_handlers = (struct iw_handler_def *) drivers/staging/rtl8712/rtl871x_ioctl.h:extern struct iw_handler_def r871x_handlers_def; drivers/staging/rtl8712/rtl871x_ioctl_linux.c:struct iw_handler_def r871x_handlers_def = { In this Email Greg writes over rtl8192e: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-staging/2024100810-payback-suds-8c15@gregkh/ "... No staging driver should ever get in the way of api changes elsewhere in the kernel, that's one of the rules of this part of the tree. So from my opinion, it's fine to delete it now. It can always come back in a new way later on. ..." So it should not be an issue to remove rtl8712. Stefan Lippers-Hollmann was one year ago still using the ipw2200. https://lore.kernel.org/linux-staging/20231024014302.0a0b79b0@mir/ Here my opinion why I think we should reconsider this: I really like to use old hardware. One of my computers is from trash and the other one is bought for 50€ three years ago. But non of my hardware is from before 2012. Do we as a community really need to support hardware from 2003 in kernel 6.13 for WLAN that evolved so rapidly? I do not think so. People around me are complaining that the 2,4GHz WLAN is difficult to use because so many devices are using it. Such slow devices consume a lot of time to send and receive the data and block therefore other devices. The longterm kernels will still support this hardware for years. Please explain to our very high value resources (Maintainers, Developers with wext and mac80211 expierience) that you cannot find any other solution that is within technical possibility and budget (USB WLAN Stick or exchange of WLAN module) and that they need to invest their time for maintenance. Here the example of invested time from Johannes Berg: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20241007213525.8b2d52b60531.I6a27aaf30bded9a0977f07f47fba2bd31a3b3330@changeid/ I cannot ask the Linux kernel community to support my test hardware just because I bought it some time ago. Rather, I have to show that I use it for private or business purposes on a regular basis and that I cannot easily change. Using this hardware is security wise not state of the art as WPA3 is not supported. We put so much effort into security. Why not here? Thanks for your response. Bye Philipp