blob: c23955404bf5d5056f7ddf448ea52415b6d3adfd [file] [log] [blame]
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07001The following is a list of files and features that are going to be
2removed in the kernel source tree. Every entry should contain what
3exactly is going away, why it is happening, and who is going to be doing
4the work. When the feature is removed from the kernel, it should also
5be removed from this file.
6
7---------------------------
8
Alan Stern471d0552007-07-12 16:55:07 -04009What: dev->power.power_state
Pavel Machek1ebfd792006-08-30 13:50:27 -070010When: July 2007
11Why: Broken design for runtime control over driver power states, confusing
12 driver-internal runtime power management with: mechanisms to support
13 system-wide sleep state transitions; event codes that distinguish
14 different phases of swsusp "sleep" transitions; and userspace policy
15 inputs. This framework was never widely used, and most attempts to
16 use it were broken. Drivers should instead be exposing domain-specific
17 interfaces either to kernel or to userspace.
18Who: Pavel Machek <pavel@suse.cz>
19
20---------------------------
21
Christoph Hellwiga6bcbc22007-04-30 00:05:48 +020022What: old NCR53C9x driver
23When: October 2007
24Why: Replaced by the much better esp_scsi driver. Actual low-level
Christoph Hellwiged560472007-05-13 22:48:31 +020025 driver can be ported over almost trivially.
Christoph Hellwiga6bcbc22007-04-30 00:05:48 +020026Who: David Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
27 Christoph Hellwig <hch@lst.de>
28
29---------------------------
30
Mauro Carvalho Chehab875c2962005-11-08 21:38:53 -080031What: Video4Linux API 1 ioctls and video_decoder.h from Video devices.
Mauro Carvalho Chehab11a5a102007-10-17 15:32:36 -020032When: December 2008
33Files: include/linux/video_decoder.h include/linux/videodev.h
34Check: include/linux/video_decoder.h include/linux/videodev.h
35Why: V4L1 AP1 was replaced by V4L2 API during migration from 2.4 to 2.6
Mauro Carvalho Chehab875c2962005-11-08 21:38:53 -080036 series. The old API have lots of drawbacks and don't provide enough
37 means to work with all video and audio standards. The newer API is
38 already available on the main drivers and should be used instead.
39 Newer drivers should use v4l_compat_translate_ioctl function to handle
40 old calls, replacing to newer ones.
41 Decoder iocts are using internally to allow video drivers to
42 communicate with video decoders. This should also be improved to allow
43 V4L2 calls being translated into compatible internal ioctls.
Mauro Carvalho Chehab11a5a102007-10-17 15:32:36 -020044 Compatibility ioctls will be provided, for a while, via
45 v4l1-compat module.
46Who: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@infradead.org>
Mauro Carvalho Chehab875c2962005-11-08 21:38:53 -080047
48---------------------------
49
Hans Verkuil051a4ac2008-07-27 14:08:54 -030050What: old tuner-3036 i2c driver
51When: 2.6.28
52Why: This driver is for VERY old i2c-over-parallel port teletext receiver
53 boxes. Rather then spending effort on converting this driver to V4L2,
54 and since it is extremely unlikely that anyone still uses one of these
55 devices, it was decided to drop it.
56Who: Hans Verkuil <hverkuil@xs4all.nl>
57 Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@infradead.org>
58
59 ---------------------------
60
61What: V4L2 dpc7146 driver
62When: 2.6.28
63Why: Old driver for the dpc7146 demonstration board that is no longer
64 relevant. The last time this was tested on actual hardware was
65 probably around 2002. Since this is a driver for a demonstration
66 board the decision was made to remove it rather than spending a
67 lot of effort continually updating this driver to stay in sync
68 with the latest internal V4L2 or I2C API.
69Who: Hans Verkuil <hverkuil@xs4all.nl>
70 Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@infradead.org>
71
72---------------------------
73
Dominik Brodowskibf45d9b02005-07-07 17:58:58 -070074What: PCMCIA control ioctl (needed for pcmcia-cs [cardmgr, cardctl])
75When: November 2005
76Files: drivers/pcmcia/: pcmcia_ioctl.c
77Why: With the 16-bit PCMCIA subsystem now behaving (almost) like a
78 normal hotpluggable bus, and with it using the default kernel
79 infrastructure (hotplug, driver core, sysfs) keeping the PCMCIA
80 control ioctl needed by cardmgr and cardctl from pcmcia-cs is
81 unnecessary, and makes further cleanups and integration of the
82 PCMCIA subsystem into the Linux kernel device driver model more
83 difficult. The features provided by cardmgr and cardctl are either
84 handled by the kernel itself now or are available in the new
85 pcmciautils package available at
86 http://kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/
87Who: Dominik Brodowski <linux@brodo.de>
Harald Welte7af4cc32005-08-09 19:44:15 -070088
89---------------------------
90
Eric W. Biederman7058cb02007-10-18 03:05:58 -070091What: sys_sysctl
92When: September 2010
93Option: CONFIG_SYSCTL_SYSCALL
94Why: The same information is available in a more convenient from
95 /proc/sys, and none of the sysctl variables appear to be
96 important performance wise.
97
98 Binary sysctls are a long standing source of subtle kernel
99 bugs and security issues.
100
101 When I looked several months ago all I could find after
102 searching several distributions were 5 user space programs and
103 glibc (which falls back to /proc/sys) using this syscall.
104
105 The man page for sysctl(2) documents it as unusable for user
106 space programs.
107
108 sysctl(2) is not generally ABI compatible to a 32bit user
109 space application on a 64bit and a 32bit kernel.
110
111 For the last several months the policy has been no new binary
112 sysctls and no one has put forward an argument to use them.
113
114 Binary sysctls issues seem to keep happening appearing so
115 properly deprecating them (with a warning to user space) and a
116 2 year grace warning period will mean eventually we can kill
117 them and end the pain.
118
119 In the mean time individual binary sysctls can be dealt with
120 in a piecewise fashion.
121
122Who: Eric Biederman <ebiederm@xmission.com>
123
124---------------------------
125
Christoph Hellwigac515892006-03-24 03:18:22 -0800126What: remove EXPORT_SYMBOL(kernel_thread)
127When: August 2006
128Files: arch/*/kernel/*_ksyms.c
Andy Whitcroftf0a594c2007-07-19 01:48:34 -0700129Check: kernel_thread
Christoph Hellwigac515892006-03-24 03:18:22 -0800130Why: kernel_thread is a low-level implementation detail. Drivers should
131 use the <linux/kthread.h> API instead which shields them from
132 implementation details and provides a higherlevel interface that
133 prevents bugs and code duplication
134Who: Christoph Hellwig <hch@lst.de>
135
136---------------------------
137
Bunkc0d3c0c2006-02-07 01:43:31 -0500138What: eepro100 network driver
139When: January 2007
140Why: replaced by the e100 driver
141Who: Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>
Jeff Garzik3c9b3a82006-02-07 01:47:12 -0500142
143---------------------------
144
Arjan van de Venf71d20e2006-06-28 04:26:45 -0700145What: Unused EXPORT_SYMBOL/EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL exports
146 (temporary transition config option provided until then)
147 The transition config option will also be removed at the same time.
148When: before 2.6.19
149Why: Unused symbols are both increasing the size of the kernel binary
150 and are often a sign of "wrong API"
151Who: Arjan van de Ven <arjan@linux.intel.com>
152
153---------------------------
154
Kay Sieversd81d9d62006-08-13 06:17:09 +0200155What: PHYSDEVPATH, PHYSDEVBUS, PHYSDEVDRIVER in the uevent environment
Dominik Brodowskiacbd39f2006-09-30 22:41:43 -0400156When: October 2008
Kay Sieversd81d9d62006-08-13 06:17:09 +0200157Why: The stacking of class devices makes these values misleading and
158 inconsistent.
159 Class devices should not carry any of these properties, and bus
160 devices have SUBSYTEM and DRIVER as a replacement.
161Who: Kay Sievers <kay.sievers@suse.de>
162
163---------------------------
Jean Delvare6c805d22006-08-13 23:45:52 +0200164
Zhang Ruib981c592007-01-29 11:02:30 +0800165What: ACPI procfs interface
Zhang Rui8b8eb7d2007-07-18 17:23:24 +0800166When: July 2008
167Why: ACPI sysfs conversion should be finished by January 2008.
168 ACPI procfs interface will be removed in July 2008 so that
169 there is enough time for the user space to catch up.
Zhang Ruib981c592007-01-29 11:02:30 +0800170Who: Zhang Rui <rui.zhang@intel.com>
171
172---------------------------
173
Len Brown1bb67c22007-01-11 01:49:44 -0500174What: /proc/acpi/button
175When: August 2007
176Why: /proc/acpi/button has been replaced by events to the input layer
177 since 2.6.20.
178Who: Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com>
179
180---------------------------
Jeff Garzik54b290a2007-01-23 00:29:01 -0500181
Len Brown14e04fb2007-08-23 15:20:26 -0400182What: /proc/acpi/event
183When: February 2008
184Why: /proc/acpi/event has been replaced by events via the input layer
185 and netlink since 2.6.23.
186Who: Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com>
187
188---------------------------
189
Tejun Heod9aca222007-05-17 16:43:26 +0200190What: libata spindown skipping and warning
Tejun Heo920a4b12007-05-04 21:28:48 +0200191When: Dec 2008
Tejun Heod9aca222007-05-17 16:43:26 +0200192Why: Some halt(8) implementations synchronize caches for and spin
193 down libata disks because libata didn't use to spin down disk on
194 system halt (only synchronized caches).
195 Spin down on system halt is now implemented. sysfs node
196 /sys/class/scsi_disk/h:c:i:l/manage_start_stop is present if
197 spin down support is available.
Tejun Heo920a4b12007-05-04 21:28:48 +0200198 Because issuing spin down command to an already spun down disk
Tejun Heod9aca222007-05-17 16:43:26 +0200199 makes some disks spin up just to spin down again, libata tracks
200 device spindown status to skip the extra spindown command and
201 warn about it.
202 This is to give userspace tools the time to get updated and will
203 be removed after userspace is reasonably updated.
Tejun Heo920a4b12007-05-04 21:28:48 +0200204Who: Tejun Heo <htejun@gmail.com>
205
206---------------------------
207
Josh Boyer0b7dbfb2007-07-03 23:25:46 +1000208What: The arch/ppc and include/asm-ppc directories
209When: Jun 2008
210Why: The arch/powerpc tree is the merged architecture for ppc32 and ppc64
211 platforms. Currently there are efforts underway to port the remaining
212 arch/ppc platforms to the merged tree. New submissions to the arch/ppc
213 tree have been frozen with the 2.6.22 kernel release and that tree will
214 remain in bug-fix only mode until its scheduled removal. Platforms
215 that are not ported by June 2008 will be removed due to the lack of an
216 interested maintainer.
217Who: linuxppc-dev@ozlabs.org
218
219---------------------------
Roland Dreierf6be6fb2007-07-17 18:37:41 -0700220
Thomas Gleixner914d97f2007-10-11 11:20:05 +0200221What: i386/x86_64 bzImage symlinks
Ingo Molnar19b4e7f2008-04-10 10:12:27 +0200222When: April 2010
Thomas Gleixner914d97f2007-10-11 11:20:05 +0200223
224Why: The i386/x86_64 merge provides a symlink to the old bzImage
225 location so not yet updated user space tools, e.g. package
226 scripts, do not break.
227Who: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Linus Torvalds038a5002007-10-11 19:40:14 -0700228
229---------------------------
230
Jan Engelhardtf9ef8a22008-01-14 23:43:34 -0800231What (Why):
232 - include/linux/netfilter_ipv4/ipt_TOS.h ipt_tos.h header files
233 (superseded by xt_TOS/xt_tos target & match)
234
235 - "forwarding" header files like ipt_mac.h in
236 include/linux/netfilter_ipv4/ and include/linux/netfilter_ipv6/
237
238 - xt_CONNMARK match revision 0
239 (superseded by xt_CONNMARK match revision 1)
240
241 - xt_MARK target revisions 0 and 1
242 (superseded by xt_MARK match revision 2)
243
244 - xt_connmark match revision 0
245 (superseded by xt_connmark match revision 1)
246
247 - xt_conntrack match revision 0
248 (superseded by xt_conntrack match revision 1)
249
250 - xt_iprange match revision 0,
251 include/linux/netfilter_ipv4/ipt_iprange.h
252 (superseded by xt_iprange match revision 1)
253
254 - xt_mark match revision 0
255 (superseded by xt_mark match revision 1)
256
257When: January 2009 or Linux 2.7.0, whichever comes first
258Why: Superseded by newer revisions or modules
259Who: Jan Engelhardt <jengelh@computergmbh.de>
Michael Buescheb189d8b2008-01-28 14:47:41 -0800260
261---------------------------
262
263What: b43 support for firmware revision < 410
264When: July 2008
265Why: The support code for the old firmware hurts code readability/maintainability
266 and slightly hurts runtime performance. Bugfixes for the old firmware
267 are not provided by Broadcom anymore.
268Who: Michael Buesch <mb@bu3sch.de>
David S. Millere88bb412008-02-09 23:08:53 -0800269
270---------------------------
271
Ingo Molnar757265b2008-02-28 20:19:06 +0100272What: init_mm export
273When: 2.6.26
274Why: Not used in-tree. The current out-of-tree users used it to
275 work around problems in the CPA code which should be resolved
276 by now. One usecase was described to provide verification code
277 of the CPA operation. That's a good idea in general, but such
278 code / infrastructure should be in the kernel and not in some
279 out-of-tree driver.
280Who: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Mark Fasheh52f7c212008-01-29 17:08:26 -0800281
Glauber Costafae9a0d2008-04-08 13:20:56 -0300282----------------------------
283
284What: usedac i386 kernel parameter
285When: 2.6.27
286Why: replaced by allowdac and no dac combination
287Who: Glauber Costa <gcosta@redhat.com>
288
Mark Fasheh52f7c212008-01-29 17:08:26 -0800289---------------------------
290
Sebastian Siewiorf7c5a772008-05-14 16:05:30 -0700291What: old style serial driver for ColdFire (CONFIG_SERIAL_COLDFIRE)
292When: 2.6.28
293Why: This driver still uses the old interface and has been replaced
294 by CONFIG_SERIAL_MCF.
295Who: Sebastian Siewior <sebastian@breakpoint.cc>
296
297---------------------------
298
Mark Fasheh52f7c212008-01-29 17:08:26 -0800299What: /sys/o2cb symlink
300When: January 2010
301Why: /sys/fs/o2cb is the proper location for this information - /sys/o2cb
302 exists as a symlink for backwards compatibility for old versions of
303 ocfs2-tools. 2 years should be sufficient time to phase in new versions
304 which know to look in /sys/fs/o2cb.
305Who: ocfs2-devel@oss.oracle.com
Matthew Wilcoxd2f5e802008-04-19 13:49:34 -0400306
307---------------------------
308
Vlad Yasevichecbed6a2008-07-01 20:06:22 -0700309What: SCTP_GET_PEER_ADDRS_NUM_OLD, SCTP_GET_PEER_ADDRS_OLD,
310 SCTP_GET_LOCAL_ADDRS_NUM_OLD, SCTP_GET_LOCAL_ADDRS_OLD
311When: June 2009
312Why: A newer version of the options have been introduced in 2005 that
313 removes the limitions of the old API. The sctp library has been
314 converted to use these new options at the same time. Any user
315 space app that directly uses the old options should convert to using
316 the new options.
317Who: Vlad Yasevich <vladislav.yasevich@hp.com>
David S. Millerea2aca02008-07-05 23:08:07 -0700318
319---------------------------
320
Rene Herman16d75232008-06-24 19:38:56 +0200321What: CONFIG_THERMAL_HWMON
322When: January 2009
323Why: This option was introduced just to allow older lm-sensors userspace
324 to keep working over the upgrade to 2.6.26. At the scheduled time of
325 removal fixed lm-sensors (2.x or 3.x) should be readily available.
326Who: Rene Herman <rene.herman@gmail.com>
Johannes Berg22bb1be2008-07-10 11:16:47 +0200327
328---------------------------
329
330What: Code that is now under CONFIG_WIRELESS_EXT_SYSFS
331 (in net/core/net-sysfs.c)
332When: After the only user (hal) has seen a release with the patches
333 for enough time, probably some time in 2010.
334Why: Over 1K .text/.data size reduction, data is available in other
335 ways (ioctls)
336Who: Johannes Berg <johannes@sipsolutions.net>
Krzysztof Piotr Oledzki58401572008-07-21 10:01:34 -0700337
338---------------------------
339
340What: CONFIG_NF_CT_ACCT
341When: 2.6.29
342Why: Accounting can now be enabled/disabled without kernel recompilation.
343 Currently used only to set a default value for a feature that is also
344 controlled by a kernel/module/sysfs/sysctl parameter.
345Who: Krzysztof Piotr Oledzki <ole@ans.pl>
346