Re: [PATCH net-next] net: appletalk: remove Apple/Farallon LocalTalk PC support

[Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>]

On Mon, May 9, 2022 at 5:01 PM Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org> wrote:
>
> Looks like all the changes to this driver had been tree-wide
> refactoring since git era begun. The driver is using virt_to_bus()
> we should make it use more modern DMA APIs but since it's unlikely
> to be getting any use these days delete it instead. We can always
> revert to bring it back.
>
> Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>

Removing this driver sounds good to me, your description makes sense
and it gets us closer to completely removing virt_to_bus() in the future.

Acked-by: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>

I think however, if we remove this driver, we need to discuss removing the
last remaining localtalk driver (CONFIG_COPS) and possibly the localtalk
bits in net/appletalk along with it.

Doug Brown suggested removing COPS last year for entirely different
reasons[1] but never got a reply. I suppose that is a sign that nobody
cared about the driver enough, but we should remove it. He also
mentioned working on a new localtalk driver, though I don't think he
posted that one yet.

       Arnd

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/6c62d7d5-5171-98a3-5287-ecb1df20f574@schmorgal.com/