blob: 5ddbe350487acad3a92bc70b057da477901cdc1c [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
Luis R. Rodriguezb2e1b302008-09-09 23:19:48 -07009What: old static regulatory information and ieee80211_regdom module parameter
10When: 2.6.29
11Why: The old regulatory infrastructure has been replaced with a new one
12 which does not require statically defined regulatory domains. We do
13 not want to keep static regulatory domains in the kernel due to the
14 the dynamic nature of regulatory law and localization. We kept around
15 the old static definitions for the regulatory domains of:
16 * US
17 * JP
18 * EU
19 and used by default the US when CONFIG_WIRELESS_OLD_REGULATORY was
20 set. We also kept around the ieee80211_regdom module parameter in case
21 some applications were relying on it. Changing regulatory domains
22 can now be done instead by using nl80211, as is done with iw.
23Who: Luis R. Rodriguez <lrodriguez@atheros.com>
24
25---------------------------
26
Alan Stern471d0552007-07-12 16:55:07 -040027What: dev->power.power_state
Pavel Machek1ebfd792006-08-30 13:50:27 -070028When: July 2007
29Why: Broken design for runtime control over driver power states, confusing
30 driver-internal runtime power management with: mechanisms to support
31 system-wide sleep state transitions; event codes that distinguish
32 different phases of swsusp "sleep" transitions; and userspace policy
33 inputs. This framework was never widely used, and most attempts to
34 use it were broken. Drivers should instead be exposing domain-specific
35 interfaces either to kernel or to userspace.
36Who: Pavel Machek <pavel@suse.cz>
37
38---------------------------
39
Mauro Carvalho Chehab875c2962005-11-08 21:38:53 -080040What: Video4Linux API 1 ioctls and video_decoder.h from Video devices.
Mauro Carvalho Chehab11a5a102007-10-17 15:32:36 -020041When: December 2008
42Files: include/linux/video_decoder.h include/linux/videodev.h
43Check: include/linux/video_decoder.h include/linux/videodev.h
44Why: V4L1 AP1 was replaced by V4L2 API during migration from 2.4 to 2.6
Mauro Carvalho Chehab875c2962005-11-08 21:38:53 -080045 series. The old API have lots of drawbacks and don't provide enough
46 means to work with all video and audio standards. The newer API is
47 already available on the main drivers and should be used instead.
48 Newer drivers should use v4l_compat_translate_ioctl function to handle
49 old calls, replacing to newer ones.
50 Decoder iocts are using internally to allow video drivers to
51 communicate with video decoders. This should also be improved to allow
52 V4L2 calls being translated into compatible internal ioctls.
Mauro Carvalho Chehab11a5a102007-10-17 15:32:36 -020053 Compatibility ioctls will be provided, for a while, via
54 v4l1-compat module.
55Who: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@infradead.org>
Mauro Carvalho Chehab875c2962005-11-08 21:38:53 -080056
57---------------------------
58
Dominik Brodowskibf45d9b02005-07-07 17:58:58 -070059What: PCMCIA control ioctl (needed for pcmcia-cs [cardmgr, cardctl])
60When: November 2005
61Files: drivers/pcmcia/: pcmcia_ioctl.c
62Why: With the 16-bit PCMCIA subsystem now behaving (almost) like a
63 normal hotpluggable bus, and with it using the default kernel
64 infrastructure (hotplug, driver core, sysfs) keeping the PCMCIA
65 control ioctl needed by cardmgr and cardctl from pcmcia-cs is
66 unnecessary, and makes further cleanups and integration of the
67 PCMCIA subsystem into the Linux kernel device driver model more
68 difficult. The features provided by cardmgr and cardctl are either
69 handled by the kernel itself now or are available in the new
70 pcmciautils package available at
71 http://kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/
72Who: Dominik Brodowski <linux@brodo.de>
Harald Welte7af4cc32005-08-09 19:44:15 -070073
74---------------------------
75
Eric W. Biederman7058cb02007-10-18 03:05:58 -070076What: sys_sysctl
77When: September 2010
78Option: CONFIG_SYSCTL_SYSCALL
79Why: The same information is available in a more convenient from
80 /proc/sys, and none of the sysctl variables appear to be
81 important performance wise.
82
83 Binary sysctls are a long standing source of subtle kernel
84 bugs and security issues.
85
86 When I looked several months ago all I could find after
87 searching several distributions were 5 user space programs and
88 glibc (which falls back to /proc/sys) using this syscall.
89
90 The man page for sysctl(2) documents it as unusable for user
91 space programs.
92
93 sysctl(2) is not generally ABI compatible to a 32bit user
94 space application on a 64bit and a 32bit kernel.
95
96 For the last several months the policy has been no new binary
97 sysctls and no one has put forward an argument to use them.
98
99 Binary sysctls issues seem to keep happening appearing so
100 properly deprecating them (with a warning to user space) and a
101 2 year grace warning period will mean eventually we can kill
102 them and end the pain.
103
104 In the mean time individual binary sysctls can be dealt with
105 in a piecewise fashion.
106
107Who: Eric Biederman <ebiederm@xmission.com>
108
109---------------------------
110
Christoph Hellwigac515892006-03-24 03:18:22 -0800111What: remove EXPORT_SYMBOL(kernel_thread)
112When: August 2006
113Files: arch/*/kernel/*_ksyms.c
Andy Whitcroftf0a594c2007-07-19 01:48:34 -0700114Check: kernel_thread
Christoph Hellwigac515892006-03-24 03:18:22 -0800115Why: kernel_thread is a low-level implementation detail. Drivers should
116 use the <linux/kthread.h> API instead which shields them from
117 implementation details and provides a higherlevel interface that
118 prevents bugs and code duplication
119Who: Christoph Hellwig <hch@lst.de>
120
121---------------------------
122
Arjan van de Venf71d20e2006-06-28 04:26:45 -0700123What: Unused EXPORT_SYMBOL/EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL exports
124 (temporary transition config option provided until then)
125 The transition config option will also be removed at the same time.
126When: before 2.6.19
127Why: Unused symbols are both increasing the size of the kernel binary
128 and are often a sign of "wrong API"
129Who: Arjan van de Ven <arjan@linux.intel.com>
130
131---------------------------
132
Kay Sieversd81d9d62006-08-13 06:17:09 +0200133What: PHYSDEVPATH, PHYSDEVBUS, PHYSDEVDRIVER in the uevent environment
Dominik Brodowskiacbd39f2006-09-30 22:41:43 -0400134When: October 2008
Kay Sieversd81d9d62006-08-13 06:17:09 +0200135Why: The stacking of class devices makes these values misleading and
136 inconsistent.
137 Class devices should not carry any of these properties, and bus
138 devices have SUBSYTEM and DRIVER as a replacement.
139Who: Kay Sievers <kay.sievers@suse.de>
140
141---------------------------
Jean Delvare6c805d22006-08-13 23:45:52 +0200142
Zhang Ruib981c592007-01-29 11:02:30 +0800143What: ACPI procfs interface
Zhang Rui8b8eb7d2007-07-18 17:23:24 +0800144When: July 2008
145Why: ACPI sysfs conversion should be finished by January 2008.
146 ACPI procfs interface will be removed in July 2008 so that
147 there is enough time for the user space to catch up.
Zhang Ruib981c592007-01-29 11:02:30 +0800148Who: Zhang Rui <rui.zhang@intel.com>
149
150---------------------------
151
Len Brown1bb67c22007-01-11 01:49:44 -0500152What: /proc/acpi/button
153When: August 2007
154Why: /proc/acpi/button has been replaced by events to the input layer
155 since 2.6.20.
156Who: Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com>
157
158---------------------------
Jeff Garzik54b290a2007-01-23 00:29:01 -0500159
Len Brown14e04fb2007-08-23 15:20:26 -0400160What: /proc/acpi/event
161When: February 2008
162Why: /proc/acpi/event has been replaced by events via the input layer
163 and netlink since 2.6.23.
164Who: Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com>
165
166---------------------------
167
Tejun Heod9aca222007-05-17 16:43:26 +0200168What: libata spindown skipping and warning
Tejun Heo920a4b12007-05-04 21:28:48 +0200169When: Dec 2008
Tejun Heod9aca222007-05-17 16:43:26 +0200170Why: Some halt(8) implementations synchronize caches for and spin
171 down libata disks because libata didn't use to spin down disk on
172 system halt (only synchronized caches).
173 Spin down on system halt is now implemented. sysfs node
174 /sys/class/scsi_disk/h:c:i:l/manage_start_stop is present if
175 spin down support is available.
Tejun Heo920a4b12007-05-04 21:28:48 +0200176 Because issuing spin down command to an already spun down disk
Tejun Heod9aca222007-05-17 16:43:26 +0200177 makes some disks spin up just to spin down again, libata tracks
178 device spindown status to skip the extra spindown command and
179 warn about it.
180 This is to give userspace tools the time to get updated and will
181 be removed after userspace is reasonably updated.
Tejun Heo920a4b12007-05-04 21:28:48 +0200182Who: Tejun Heo <htejun@gmail.com>
183
184---------------------------
185
Thomas Gleixner914d97f2007-10-11 11:20:05 +0200186What: i386/x86_64 bzImage symlinks
Ingo Molnar19b4e7f2008-04-10 10:12:27 +0200187When: April 2010
Thomas Gleixner914d97f2007-10-11 11:20:05 +0200188
189Why: The i386/x86_64 merge provides a symlink to the old bzImage
190 location so not yet updated user space tools, e.g. package
191 scripts, do not break.
192Who: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Linus Torvalds038a5002007-10-11 19:40:14 -0700193
194---------------------------
195
Jan Engelhardtf9ef8a22008-01-14 23:43:34 -0800196What (Why):
197 - include/linux/netfilter_ipv4/ipt_TOS.h ipt_tos.h header files
198 (superseded by xt_TOS/xt_tos target & match)
199
200 - "forwarding" header files like ipt_mac.h in
201 include/linux/netfilter_ipv4/ and include/linux/netfilter_ipv6/
202
203 - xt_CONNMARK match revision 0
204 (superseded by xt_CONNMARK match revision 1)
205
206 - xt_MARK target revisions 0 and 1
207 (superseded by xt_MARK match revision 2)
208
209 - xt_connmark match revision 0
210 (superseded by xt_connmark match revision 1)
211
212 - xt_conntrack match revision 0
213 (superseded by xt_conntrack match revision 1)
214
215 - xt_iprange match revision 0,
216 include/linux/netfilter_ipv4/ipt_iprange.h
217 (superseded by xt_iprange match revision 1)
218
219 - xt_mark match revision 0
220 (superseded by xt_mark match revision 1)
221
Jan Engelhardt079aa882008-10-08 11:35:00 +0200222 - xt_recent: the old ipt_recent proc dir
223 (superseded by /proc/net/xt_recent)
224
Jan Engelhardtf9ef8a22008-01-14 23:43:34 -0800225When: January 2009 or Linux 2.7.0, whichever comes first
226Why: Superseded by newer revisions or modules
227Who: Jan Engelhardt <jengelh@computergmbh.de>
Michael Buescheb189d82008-01-28 14:47:41 -0800228
229---------------------------
230
231What: b43 support for firmware revision < 410
232When: July 2008
233Why: The support code for the old firmware hurts code readability/maintainability
234 and slightly hurts runtime performance. Bugfixes for the old firmware
235 are not provided by Broadcom anymore.
236Who: Michael Buesch <mb@bu3sch.de>
David S. Millere88bb412008-02-09 23:08:53 -0800237
238---------------------------
239
Glauber Costafae9a0d2008-04-08 13:20:56 -0300240What: usedac i386 kernel parameter
241When: 2.6.27
242Why: replaced by allowdac and no dac combination
243Who: Glauber Costa <gcosta@redhat.com>
244
Mark Fasheh52f7c212008-01-29 17:08:26 -0800245---------------------------
246
Jiri Slaby02ae9a12008-05-16 11:49:22 +0200247What: remove HID compat support
248When: 2.6.29
249Why: needed only as a temporary solution until distros fix themselves up
250Who: Jiri Slaby <jirislaby@gmail.com>
251
252---------------------------
253
Bjorn Helgaasc80cfb02008-10-15 22:01:35 -0700254What: print_fn_descriptor_symbol()
255When: October 2009
256Why: The %pF vsprintf format provides the same functionality in a
257 simpler way. print_fn_descriptor_symbol() is deprecated but
258 still present to give out-of-tree modules time to change.
259Who: Bjorn Helgaas <bjorn.helgaas@hp.com>
260
261---------------------------
262
Mark Fasheh52f7c212008-01-29 17:08:26 -0800263What: /sys/o2cb symlink
264When: January 2010
265Why: /sys/fs/o2cb is the proper location for this information - /sys/o2cb
266 exists as a symlink for backwards compatibility for old versions of
267 ocfs2-tools. 2 years should be sufficient time to phase in new versions
268 which know to look in /sys/fs/o2cb.
269Who: ocfs2-devel@oss.oracle.com
Matthew Wilcoxd2f5e802008-04-19 13:49:34 -0400270
271---------------------------
272
Vlad Yasevichecbed6a2008-07-01 20:06:22 -0700273What: SCTP_GET_PEER_ADDRS_NUM_OLD, SCTP_GET_PEER_ADDRS_OLD,
274 SCTP_GET_LOCAL_ADDRS_NUM_OLD, SCTP_GET_LOCAL_ADDRS_OLD
275When: June 2009
276Why: A newer version of the options have been introduced in 2005 that
277 removes the limitions of the old API. The sctp library has been
278 converted to use these new options at the same time. Any user
279 space app that directly uses the old options should convert to using
280 the new options.
281Who: Vlad Yasevich <vladislav.yasevich@hp.com>
David S. Millerea2aca02008-07-05 23:08:07 -0700282
283---------------------------
284
Rene Herman16d75232008-06-24 19:38:56 +0200285What: CONFIG_THERMAL_HWMON
286When: January 2009
287Why: This option was introduced just to allow older lm-sensors userspace
288 to keep working over the upgrade to 2.6.26. At the scheduled time of
289 removal fixed lm-sensors (2.x or 3.x) should be readily available.
290Who: Rene Herman <rene.herman@gmail.com>
Johannes Berg22bb1be2008-07-10 11:16:47 +0200291
292---------------------------
293
294What: Code that is now under CONFIG_WIRELESS_EXT_SYSFS
295 (in net/core/net-sysfs.c)
296When: After the only user (hal) has seen a release with the patches
297 for enough time, probably some time in 2010.
298Why: Over 1K .text/.data size reduction, data is available in other
299 ways (ioctls)
300Who: Johannes Berg <johannes@sipsolutions.net>
Krzysztof Piotr Oledzki58401572008-07-21 10:01:34 -0700301
302---------------------------
303
304What: CONFIG_NF_CT_ACCT
305When: 2.6.29
306Why: Accounting can now be enabled/disabled without kernel recompilation.
307 Currently used only to set a default value for a feature that is also
308 controlled by a kernel/module/sysfs/sysctl parameter.
309Who: Krzysztof Piotr Oledzki <ole@ans.pl>
310
FUJITA Tomonori46dfa042008-09-10 22:22:34 +0200311---------------------------
312
Jean Delvare00155a92008-10-22 20:21:32 +0200313What: i2c_attach_client(), i2c_detach_client(), i2c_driver->detach_client()
314When: 2.6.29 (ideally) or 2.6.30 (more likely)
315Why: Deprecated by the new (standard) device driver binding model. Use
316 i2c_driver->probe() and ->remove() instead.
317Who: Jean Delvare <khali@linux-fr.org>
Paul Moore277d3422008-12-31 12:54:11 -0500318
319---------------------------
320
Hans de Goede0589c2d2009-01-07 16:37:33 +0100321What: fscher and fscpos drivers
322When: June 2009
323Why: Deprecated by the new fschmd driver.
324Who: Hans de Goede <hdegoede@redhat.com>
325 Jean Delvare <khali@linux-fr.org>
326
327---------------------------
328
Paul Moore277d3422008-12-31 12:54:11 -0500329What: SELinux "compat_net" functionality
330When: 2.6.30 at the earliest
331Why: In 2.6.18 the Secmark concept was introduced to replace the "compat_net"
332 network access control functionality of SELinux. Secmark offers both
333 better performance and greater flexibility than the "compat_net"
334 mechanism. Now that the major Linux distributions have moved to
335 Secmark, it is time to deprecate the older mechanism and start the
336 process of removing the old code.
337Who: Paul Moore <paul.moore@hp.com>