blob: 9364f47c711690e4a262ed0c93c1072ff1be181e [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
Pavel Machek1ebfd792006-08-30 13:50:27 -07009What: /sys/devices/.../power/state
10 dev->power.power_state
11 dpm_runtime_{suspend,resume)()
12When: July 2007
13Why: Broken design for runtime control over driver power states, confusing
14 driver-internal runtime power management with: mechanisms to support
15 system-wide sleep state transitions; event codes that distinguish
16 different phases of swsusp "sleep" transitions; and userspace policy
17 inputs. This framework was never widely used, and most attempts to
18 use it were broken. Drivers should instead be exposing domain-specific
19 interfaces either to kernel or to userspace.
20Who: Pavel Machek <pavel@suse.cz>
21
22---------------------------
23
Adrian Bunk98e7f292005-06-25 14:59:37 -070024What: RAW driver (CONFIG_RAW_DRIVER)
25When: December 2005
26Why: declared obsolete since kernel 2.6.3
27 O_DIRECT can be used instead
28Who: Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>
29
30---------------------------
31
Adrian Bunkaafda4e2006-04-20 02:43:21 -070032What: drivers that were depending on OBSOLETE_OSS_DRIVER
33 (config options already removed)
34When: before 2.6.19
Adrian Bunkcecd1ca2005-11-08 21:34:45 -080035Why: OSS drivers with ALSA replacements
36Who: Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>
37
38---------------------------
39
Jody McIntyrea1446c72005-05-16 21:53:59 -070040What: raw1394: requests of type RAW1394_REQ_ISO_SEND, RAW1394_REQ_ISO_LISTEN
Ben Collinsd0aef392006-06-12 18:14:27 -040041When: November 2006
Jody McIntyrea1446c72005-05-16 21:53:59 -070042Why: Deprecated in favour of the new ioctl-based rawiso interface, which is
43 more efficient. You should really be using libraw1394 for raw1394
44 access anyway.
Ben Collinsd0aef392006-06-12 18:14:27 -040045Who: Jody McIntyre <scjody@modernduck.com>
Grant Coady937df8d2005-05-12 11:59:29 +100046
47---------------------------
48
Mauro Carvalho Chehab875c2962005-11-08 21:38:53 -080049What: Video4Linux API 1 ioctls and video_decoder.h from Video devices.
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48c06d52006-09-06 09:29:00 -030050When: December 2006
Mauro Carvalho Chehab875c2962005-11-08 21:38:53 -080051Why: V4L1 AP1 was replaced by V4L2 API. during migration from 2.4 to 2.6
52 series. The old API have lots of drawbacks and don't provide enough
53 means to work with all video and audio standards. The newer API is
54 already available on the main drivers and should be used instead.
55 Newer drivers should use v4l_compat_translate_ioctl function to handle
56 old calls, replacing to newer ones.
57 Decoder iocts are using internally to allow video drivers to
58 communicate with video decoders. This should also be improved to allow
59 V4L2 calls being translated into compatible internal ioctls.
60Who: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@brturbo.com.br>
61
62---------------------------
63
Eric W. Biederman35fa2042006-09-27 01:51:05 -070064What: sys_sysctl
65When: January 2007
66Why: The same information is available through /proc/sys and that is the
67 interface user space prefers to use. And there do not appear to be
68 any existing user in user space of sys_sysctl. The additional
69 maintenance overhead of keeping a set of binary names gets
70 in the way of doing a good job of maintaining this interface.
71
72Who: Eric Biederman <ebiederm@xmission.com>
73
74---------------------------
75
Dominik Brodowskibf45d9b02005-07-07 17:58:58 -070076What: PCMCIA control ioctl (needed for pcmcia-cs [cardmgr, cardctl])
77When: November 2005
78Files: drivers/pcmcia/: pcmcia_ioctl.c
79Why: With the 16-bit PCMCIA subsystem now behaving (almost) like a
80 normal hotpluggable bus, and with it using the default kernel
81 infrastructure (hotplug, driver core, sysfs) keeping the PCMCIA
82 control ioctl needed by cardmgr and cardctl from pcmcia-cs is
83 unnecessary, and makes further cleanups and integration of the
84 PCMCIA subsystem into the Linux kernel device driver model more
85 difficult. The features provided by cardmgr and cardctl are either
86 handled by the kernel itself now or are available in the new
87 pcmciautils package available at
88 http://kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/
89Who: Dominik Brodowski <linux@brodo.de>
Harald Welte7af4cc32005-08-09 19:44:15 -070090
91---------------------------
92
93What: ip_queue and ip6_queue (old ipv4-only and ipv6-only netfilter queue)
94When: December 2005
95Why: This interface has been obsoleted by the new layer3-independent
96 "nfnetlink_queue". The Kernel interface is compatible, so the old
97 ip[6]tables "QUEUE" targets still work and will transparently handle
98 all packets into nfnetlink queue number 0. Userspace users will have
99 to link against API-compatible library on top of libnfnetlink_queue
100 instead of the current 'libipq'.
101Who: Harald Welte <laforge@netfilter.org>
Christoph Hellwig49705b72005-11-08 21:35:06 -0800102
103---------------------------
104
Christoph Hellwigac515892006-03-24 03:18:22 -0800105What: remove EXPORT_SYMBOL(kernel_thread)
106When: August 2006
107Files: arch/*/kernel/*_ksyms.c
108Why: kernel_thread is a low-level implementation detail. Drivers should
109 use the <linux/kthread.h> API instead which shields them from
110 implementation details and provides a higherlevel interface that
111 prevents bugs and code duplication
112Who: Christoph Hellwig <hch@lst.de>
113
114---------------------------
115
Ingo Molnara9df3d02006-01-14 13:21:33 -0800116What: CONFIG_FORCED_INLINING
117When: June 2006
118Why: Config option is there to see if gcc is good enough. (in january
119 2006). If it is, the behavior should just be the default. If it's not,
120 the option should just go away entirely.
121Who: Arjan van de Ven
122
123---------------------------
124
NeilBrowne8a00332005-11-15 00:09:11 -0800125What: START_ARRAY ioctl for md
126When: July 2006
127Files: drivers/md/md.c
128Why: Not reliable by design - can fail when most needed.
129 Alternatives exist
130Who: NeilBrown <neilb@suse.de>
Ralf Baechlee0c9b792005-11-08 22:36:48 +0000131
132---------------------------
133
Bunkc0d3c0c2006-02-07 01:43:31 -0500134What: eepro100 network driver
135When: January 2007
136Why: replaced by the e100 driver
137Who: Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>
Jeff Garzik3c9b3a82006-02-07 01:47:12 -0500138
139---------------------------
140
Adrian Bunk1e5f5e52006-08-31 21:27:46 -0700141What: drivers depending on OSS_OBSOLETE_DRIVER
142When: options in 2.6.20, code in 2.6.22
143Why: OSS drivers with ALSA replacements
144Who: Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>
145
146---------------------------
147
Richard Knutsson051d9892005-12-03 02:34:12 +0100148What: pci_module_init(driver)
149When: January 2007
150Why: Is replaced by pci_register_driver(pci_driver).
151Who: Richard Knutsson <ricknu-0@student.ltu.se> and Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@suse.de>
Jean Delvarec5e3fbf2006-01-18 22:39:48 +0100152
153---------------------------
154
Thomas Gleixner7d99b7d2006-03-25 03:06:35 -0800155What: Usage of invalid timevals in setitimer
156When: March 2007
157Why: POSIX requires to validate timevals in the setitimer call. This
158 was never done by Linux. The invalid (e.g. negative timevals) were
159 silently converted to more or less random timeouts and intervals.
160 Until the removal a per boot limited number of warnings is printed
161 and the timevals are sanitized.
162
163Who: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
164
165---------------------------
166
Jean Delvarec5e3fbf2006-01-18 22:39:48 +0100167What: I2C interface of the it87 driver
168When: January 2007
169Why: The ISA interface is faster and should be always available. The I2C
170 probing is also known to cause trouble in at least one case (see
171 bug #5889.)
172Who: Jean Delvare <khali@linux-fr.org>
Greg Kroah-Hartmanfa675762006-02-22 09:39:02 -0800173
174---------------------------
175
Arjan van de Venf71d20e2006-06-28 04:26:45 -0700176What: Unused EXPORT_SYMBOL/EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL exports
177 (temporary transition config option provided until then)
178 The transition config option will also be removed at the same time.
179When: before 2.6.19
180Why: Unused symbols are both increasing the size of the kernel binary
181 and are often a sign of "wrong API"
182Who: Arjan van de Ven <arjan@linux.intel.com>
183
184---------------------------
185
Greg Kroah-Hartmanfa675762006-02-22 09:39:02 -0800186What: mount/umount uevents
187When: February 2007
188Why: These events are not correct, and do not properly let userspace know
189 when a file system has been mounted or unmounted. Userspace should
190 poll the /proc/mounts file instead to detect this properly.
191Who: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@suse.de>
Ralf Baechlecf028d12006-03-02 16:50:12 +0000192
193---------------------------
194
Greg Kroah-Hartmanb87ba0a2006-03-20 13:17:13 -0800195What: USB driver API moves to EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL
196When: Febuary 2008
197Files: include/linux/usb.h, drivers/usb/core/driver.c
198Why: The USB subsystem has changed a lot over time, and it has been
199 possible to create userspace USB drivers using usbfs/libusb/gadgetfs
200 that operate as fast as the USB bus allows. Because of this, the USB
201 subsystem will not be allowing closed source kernel drivers to
202 register with it, after this grace period is over. If anyone needs
203 any help in converting their closed source drivers over to use the
204 userspace filesystems, please contact the
205 linux-usb-devel@lists.sourceforge.net mailing list, and the developers
206 there will be glad to help you out.
207Who: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@suse.de>
208
209---------------------------
Nick Piggin93fac702006-03-31 02:29:56 -0800210
211What: find_trylock_page
212When: January 2007
213Why: The interface no longer has any callers left in the kernel. It
214 is an odd interface (compared with other find_*_page functions), in
215 that it does not take a refcount to the page, only the page lock.
216 It should be replaced with find_get_page or find_lock_page if possible.
217 This feature removal can be reevaluated if users of the interface
218 cannot cleanly use something else.
219Who: Nick Piggin <npiggin@suse.de>
220
221---------------------------
Ralf Baechle127fe6a2006-06-28 12:28:27 +0100222
Ralf Baechle127fe6a2006-06-28 12:28:27 +0100223What: Support for the Momentum / PMC-Sierra Jaguar ATX evaluation board
224When: September 2006
225Why: Does no longer build since quite some time, and was never popular,
226 due to the platform being replaced by successor models. Apparently
227 no user base left. It also is one of the last users of
228 WANT_PAGE_VIRTUAL.
229Who: Ralf Baechle <ralf@linux-mips.org>
230
231---------------------------
232
233What: Support for the Momentum Ocelot, Ocelot 3, Ocelot C and Ocelot G
234When: September 2006
235Why: Some do no longer build and apparently there is no user base left
236 for these platforms.
237Who: Ralf Baechle <ralf@linux-mips.org>
238
239---------------------------
240
241What: Support for MIPS Technologies' Altas and SEAD evaluation board
242When: September 2006
243Why: Some do no longer build and apparently there is no user base left
244 for these platforms. Hardware out of production since several years.
245Who: Ralf Baechle <ralf@linux-mips.org>
246
247---------------------------
248
249What: Support for the IT8172-based platforms, ITE 8172G and Globespan IVR
250When: September 2006
251Why: Code does no longer build since at least 2.6.0, apparently there is
252 no user base left for these platforms. Hardware out of production
253 since several years and hardly a trace of the manufacturer left on
254 the net.
255Who: Ralf Baechle <ralf@linux-mips.org>
256
257---------------------------
Thomas Gleixner6e213612006-07-01 19:29:03 -0700258
259What: Interrupt only SA_* flags
260When: Januar 2007
261Why: The interrupt related SA_* flags are replaced by IRQF_* to move them
262 out of the signal namespace.
263
264Who: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
265
266---------------------------
Jean Delvare5a017482006-07-01 17:13:37 +0200267
268What: i2c-ite and i2c-algo-ite drivers
269When: September 2006
270Why: These drivers never compiled since they were added to the kernel
271 tree 5 years ago. This feature removal can be reevaluated if
272 someone shows interest in the drivers, fixes them and takes over
273 maintenance.
274 http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-mips&m=115040510817448
275Who: Jean Delvare <khali@linux-fr.org>
276
277---------------------------
Patrick McHardy10ea6ac2006-07-24 22:54:55 -0700278
279What: Bridge netfilter deferred IPv4/IPv6 output hook calling
280When: January 2007
281Why: The deferred output hooks are a layering violation causing unusual
282 and broken behaviour on bridge devices. Examples of things they
283 break include QoS classifation using the MARK or CLASSIFY targets,
284 the IPsec policy match and connection tracking with VLANs on a
285 bridge. Their only use is to enable bridge output port filtering
286 within iptables with the physdev match, which can also be done by
287 combining iptables and ebtables using netfilter marks. Until it
288 will get removed the hook deferral is disabled by default and is
289 only enabled when needed.
290
291Who: Patrick McHardy <kaber@trash.net>
292
293---------------------------
Stephen Hemminger080f22c2006-09-13 21:13:54 -0700294
295What: frame diverter
296When: November 2006
297Why: The frame diverter is included in most distribution kernels, but is
298 broken. It does not correctly handle many things:
299 - IPV6
300 - non-linear skb's
301 - network device RCU on removal
302 - input frames not correctly checked for protocol errors
303 It also adds allocation overhead even if not enabled.
304 It is not clear if anyone is still using it.
305Who: Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@osdl.org>
306
Kay Sieversd81d9d62006-08-13 06:17:09 +0200307---------------------------
308
309
310What: PHYSDEVPATH, PHYSDEVBUS, PHYSDEVDRIVER in the uevent environment
311When: Oktober 2008
312Why: The stacking of class devices makes these values misleading and
313 inconsistent.
314 Class devices should not carry any of these properties, and bus
315 devices have SUBSYTEM and DRIVER as a replacement.
316Who: Kay Sievers <kay.sievers@suse.de>
317
318---------------------------
Jean Delvare6c805d22006-08-13 23:45:52 +0200319
320What: i2c-isa
321When: December 2006
322Why: i2c-isa is a non-sense and doesn't fit in the device driver
323 model. Drivers relying on it are better implemented as platform
324 drivers.
325Who: Jean Delvare <khali@linux-fr.org>
326
327---------------------------