Commit | Line | Data |
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1da177e4 LT |
1 | The following is a list of files and features that are going to be |
2 | removed in the kernel source tree. Every entry should contain what | |
3 | exactly is going away, why it is happening, and who is going to be doing | |
4 | the work. When the feature is removed from the kernel, it should also | |
5 | be removed from this file. | |
6 | ||
7 | --------------------------- | |
8 | ||
6ee7d330 LR |
9 | What: The ieee80211_regdom module parameter |
10 | When: March 2010 | |
11 | ||
12 | Why: This was inherited by the CONFIG_WIRELESS_OLD_REGULATORY code, | |
13 | and currently serves as an option for users to define an | |
14 | ISO / IEC 3166 alpha2 code for the country they are currently | |
15 | present in. Although there are userspace API replacements for this | |
16 | through nl80211 distributions haven't yet caught up with implementing | |
17 | decent alternatives through standard GUIs. Although available as an | |
18 | option through iw or wpa_supplicant its just a matter of time before | |
19 | distributions pick up good GUI options for this. The ideal solution | |
20 | would actually consist of intelligent designs which would do this for | |
21 | the user automatically even when travelling through different countries. | |
22 | Until then we leave this module parameter as a compromise. | |
23 | ||
24 | When userspace improves with reasonable widely-available alternatives for | |
25 | this we will no longer need this module parameter. This entry hopes that | |
26 | by the super-futuristically looking date of "March 2010" we will have | |
27 | such replacements widely available. | |
28 | ||
29 | Who: Luis R. Rodriguez <lrodriguez@atheros.com> | |
30 | ||
31 | --------------------------- | |
32 | ||
33 | What: old static regulatory information | |
b2e1b302 LR |
34 | When: 2.6.29 |
35 | Why: The old regulatory infrastructure has been replaced with a new one | |
36 | which does not require statically defined regulatory domains. We do | |
37 | not want to keep static regulatory domains in the kernel due to the | |
38 | the dynamic nature of regulatory law and localization. We kept around | |
39 | the old static definitions for the regulatory domains of: | |
40 | * US | |
41 | * JP | |
42 | * EU | |
43 | and used by default the US when CONFIG_WIRELESS_OLD_REGULATORY was | |
6ee7d330 | 44 | set. |
b2e1b302 LR |
45 | Who: Luis R. Rodriguez <lrodriguez@atheros.com> |
46 | ||
47 | --------------------------- | |
48 | ||
471d0558 | 49 | What: dev->power.power_state |
1ebfd79e PM |
50 | When: July 2007 |
51 | Why: Broken design for runtime control over driver power states, confusing | |
52 | driver-internal runtime power management with: mechanisms to support | |
53 | system-wide sleep state transitions; event codes that distinguish | |
54 | different phases of swsusp "sleep" transitions; and userspace policy | |
55 | inputs. This framework was never widely used, and most attempts to | |
56 | use it were broken. Drivers should instead be exposing domain-specific | |
57 | interfaces either to kernel or to userspace. | |
58 | Who: Pavel Machek <pavel@suse.cz> | |
59 | ||
60 | --------------------------- | |
61 | ||
875c296b | 62 | What: Video4Linux API 1 ioctls and video_decoder.h from Video devices. |
11a5a10e MCC |
63 | When: December 2008 |
64 | Files: include/linux/video_decoder.h include/linux/videodev.h | |
65 | Check: include/linux/video_decoder.h include/linux/videodev.h | |
66 | Why: V4L1 AP1 was replaced by V4L2 API during migration from 2.4 to 2.6 | |
875c296b MCC |
67 | series. The old API have lots of drawbacks and don't provide enough |
68 | means to work with all video and audio standards. The newer API is | |
69 | already available on the main drivers and should be used instead. | |
70 | Newer drivers should use v4l_compat_translate_ioctl function to handle | |
71 | old calls, replacing to newer ones. | |
72 | Decoder iocts are using internally to allow video drivers to | |
73 | communicate with video decoders. This should also be improved to allow | |
74 | V4L2 calls being translated into compatible internal ioctls. | |
11a5a10e MCC |
75 | Compatibility ioctls will be provided, for a while, via |
76 | v4l1-compat module. | |
77 | Who: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@infradead.org> | |
875c296b MCC |
78 | |
79 | --------------------------- | |
80 | ||
bf45d9b0 DB |
81 | What: PCMCIA control ioctl (needed for pcmcia-cs [cardmgr, cardctl]) |
82 | When: November 2005 | |
83 | Files: drivers/pcmcia/: pcmcia_ioctl.c | |
84 | Why: With the 16-bit PCMCIA subsystem now behaving (almost) like a | |
85 | normal hotpluggable bus, and with it using the default kernel | |
86 | infrastructure (hotplug, driver core, sysfs) keeping the PCMCIA | |
87 | control ioctl needed by cardmgr and cardctl from pcmcia-cs is | |
88 | unnecessary, and makes further cleanups and integration of the | |
89 | PCMCIA subsystem into the Linux kernel device driver model more | |
90 | difficult. The features provided by cardmgr and cardctl are either | |
91 | handled by the kernel itself now or are available in the new | |
92 | pcmciautils package available at | |
93 | http://kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/ | |
94 | Who: Dominik Brodowski <linux@brodo.de> | |
7af4cc3f HW |
95 | |
96 | --------------------------- | |
97 | ||
7058cb02 EB |
98 | What: sys_sysctl |
99 | When: September 2010 | |
100 | Option: CONFIG_SYSCTL_SYSCALL | |
101 | Why: The same information is available in a more convenient from | |
102 | /proc/sys, and none of the sysctl variables appear to be | |
103 | important performance wise. | |
104 | ||
105 | Binary sysctls are a long standing source of subtle kernel | |
106 | bugs and security issues. | |
107 | ||
108 | When I looked several months ago all I could find after | |
109 | searching several distributions were 5 user space programs and | |
110 | glibc (which falls back to /proc/sys) using this syscall. | |
111 | ||
112 | The man page for sysctl(2) documents it as unusable for user | |
113 | space programs. | |
114 | ||
115 | sysctl(2) is not generally ABI compatible to a 32bit user | |
116 | space application on a 64bit and a 32bit kernel. | |
117 | ||
118 | For the last several months the policy has been no new binary | |
119 | sysctls and no one has put forward an argument to use them. | |
120 | ||
121 | Binary sysctls issues seem to keep happening appearing so | |
122 | properly deprecating them (with a warning to user space) and a | |
123 | 2 year grace warning period will mean eventually we can kill | |
124 | them and end the pain. | |
125 | ||
126 | In the mean time individual binary sysctls can be dealt with | |
127 | in a piecewise fashion. | |
128 | ||
129 | Who: Eric Biederman <ebiederm@xmission.com> | |
130 | ||
131 | --------------------------- | |
132 | ||
ac515898 CH |
133 | What: remove EXPORT_SYMBOL(kernel_thread) |
134 | When: August 2006 | |
135 | Files: arch/*/kernel/*_ksyms.c | |
f0a594c1 | 136 | Check: kernel_thread |
ac515898 CH |
137 | Why: kernel_thread is a low-level implementation detail. Drivers should |
138 | use the <linux/kthread.h> API instead which shields them from | |
139 | implementation details and provides a higherlevel interface that | |
140 | prevents bugs and code duplication | |
141 | Who: Christoph Hellwig <hch@lst.de> | |
142 | ||
143 | --------------------------- | |
144 | ||
f71d20e9 AV |
145 | What: 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. | |
148 | When: before 2.6.19 | |
149 | Why: Unused symbols are both increasing the size of the kernel binary | |
150 | and are often a sign of "wrong API" | |
151 | Who: Arjan van de Ven <arjan@linux.intel.com> | |
152 | ||
153 | --------------------------- | |
154 | ||
d81d9d6b | 155 | What: PHYSDEVPATH, PHYSDEVBUS, PHYSDEVDRIVER in the uevent environment |
acbd39fb | 156 | When: October 2008 |
d81d9d6b KS |
157 | Why: 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. | |
161 | Who: Kay Sievers <kay.sievers@suse.de> | |
162 | ||
163 | --------------------------- | |
6c805d2c | 164 | |
b981c591 | 165 | What: ACPI procfs interface |
8b8eb7d8 ZR |
166 | When: July 2008 |
167 | Why: 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. | |
b981c591 ZR |
170 | Who: Zhang Rui <rui.zhang@intel.com> |
171 | ||
172 | --------------------------- | |
173 | ||
1bb67c25 LB |
174 | What: /proc/acpi/button |
175 | When: August 2007 | |
176 | Why: /proc/acpi/button has been replaced by events to the input layer | |
177 | since 2.6.20. | |
178 | Who: Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com> | |
179 | ||
180 | --------------------------- | |
54b290a2 | 181 | |
14e04fb3 LB |
182 | What: /proc/acpi/event |
183 | When: February 2008 | |
184 | Why: /proc/acpi/event has been replaced by events via the input layer | |
185 | and netlink since 2.6.23. | |
186 | Who: Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com> | |
187 | ||
188 | --------------------------- | |
189 | ||
d9aca22c | 190 | What: libata spindown skipping and warning |
920a4b10 | 191 | When: Dec 2008 |
d9aca22c TH |
192 | Why: 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. | |
920a4b10 | 198 | Because issuing spin down command to an already spun down disk |
d9aca22c TH |
199 | 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. | |
920a4b10 TH |
204 | Who: Tejun Heo <htejun@gmail.com> |
205 | ||
206 | --------------------------- | |
207 | ||
914d97fd | 208 | What: i386/x86_64 bzImage symlinks |
19b4e7f4 | 209 | When: April 2010 |
914d97fd TG |
210 | |
211 | Why: The i386/x86_64 merge provides a symlink to the old bzImage | |
212 | location so not yet updated user space tools, e.g. package | |
213 | scripts, do not break. | |
214 | Who: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> | |
038a5008 LT |
215 | |
216 | --------------------------- | |
217 | ||
f9ef8a23 JE |
218 | What (Why): |
219 | - include/linux/netfilter_ipv4/ipt_TOS.h ipt_tos.h header files | |
220 | (superseded by xt_TOS/xt_tos target & match) | |
221 | ||
222 | - "forwarding" header files like ipt_mac.h in | |
223 | include/linux/netfilter_ipv4/ and include/linux/netfilter_ipv6/ | |
224 | ||
225 | - xt_CONNMARK match revision 0 | |
226 | (superseded by xt_CONNMARK match revision 1) | |
227 | ||
228 | - xt_MARK target revisions 0 and 1 | |
229 | (superseded by xt_MARK match revision 2) | |
230 | ||
231 | - xt_connmark match revision 0 | |
232 | (superseded by xt_connmark match revision 1) | |
233 | ||
234 | - xt_conntrack match revision 0 | |
235 | (superseded by xt_conntrack match revision 1) | |
236 | ||
237 | - xt_iprange match revision 0, | |
238 | include/linux/netfilter_ipv4/ipt_iprange.h | |
239 | (superseded by xt_iprange match revision 1) | |
240 | ||
241 | - xt_mark match revision 0 | |
242 | (superseded by xt_mark match revision 1) | |
243 | ||
079aa88f JE |
244 | - xt_recent: the old ipt_recent proc dir |
245 | (superseded by /proc/net/xt_recent) | |
246 | ||
f9ef8a23 JE |
247 | When: January 2009 or Linux 2.7.0, whichever comes first |
248 | Why: Superseded by newer revisions or modules | |
249 | Who: Jan Engelhardt <jengelh@computergmbh.de> | |
eb189d8b MB |
250 | |
251 | --------------------------- | |
252 | ||
253 | What: b43 support for firmware revision < 410 | |
c557289c MB |
254 | When: The schedule was July 2008, but it was decided that we are going to keep the |
255 | code as long as there are no major maintanance headaches. | |
256 | So it _could_ be removed _any_ time now, if it conflicts with something new. | |
eb189d8b MB |
257 | Why: The support code for the old firmware hurts code readability/maintainability |
258 | and slightly hurts runtime performance. Bugfixes for the old firmware | |
259 | are not provided by Broadcom anymore. | |
260 | Who: Michael Buesch <mb@bu3sch.de> | |
e88bb415 DM |
261 | |
262 | --------------------------- | |
263 | ||
fae9a0d8 GC |
264 | What: usedac i386 kernel parameter |
265 | When: 2.6.27 | |
266 | Why: replaced by allowdac and no dac combination | |
267 | Who: Glauber Costa <gcosta@redhat.com> | |
268 | ||
52f7c21b MF |
269 | --------------------------- |
270 | ||
02ae9a1a JS |
271 | What: remove HID compat support |
272 | When: 2.6.29 | |
273 | Why: needed only as a temporary solution until distros fix themselves up | |
274 | Who: Jiri Slaby <jirislaby@gmail.com> | |
275 | ||
276 | --------------------------- | |
277 | ||
c80cfb04 BH |
278 | What: print_fn_descriptor_symbol() |
279 | When: October 2009 | |
280 | Why: The %pF vsprintf format provides the same functionality in a | |
281 | simpler way. print_fn_descriptor_symbol() is deprecated but | |
282 | still present to give out-of-tree modules time to change. | |
283 | Who: Bjorn Helgaas <bjorn.helgaas@hp.com> | |
284 | ||
285 | --------------------------- | |
286 | ||
52f7c21b MF |
287 | What: /sys/o2cb symlink |
288 | When: January 2010 | |
289 | Why: /sys/fs/o2cb is the proper location for this information - /sys/o2cb | |
290 | exists as a symlink for backwards compatibility for old versions of | |
291 | ocfs2-tools. 2 years should be sufficient time to phase in new versions | |
292 | which know to look in /sys/fs/o2cb. | |
293 | Who: ocfs2-devel@oss.oracle.com | |
d2f5e808 MW |
294 | |
295 | --------------------------- | |
296 | ||
ecbed6a4 VY |
297 | What: SCTP_GET_PEER_ADDRS_NUM_OLD, SCTP_GET_PEER_ADDRS_OLD, |
298 | SCTP_GET_LOCAL_ADDRS_NUM_OLD, SCTP_GET_LOCAL_ADDRS_OLD | |
299 | When: June 2009 | |
300 | Why: A newer version of the options have been introduced in 2005 that | |
301 | removes the limitions of the old API. The sctp library has been | |
302 | converted to use these new options at the same time. Any user | |
303 | space app that directly uses the old options should convert to using | |
304 | the new options. | |
305 | Who: Vlad Yasevich <vladislav.yasevich@hp.com> | |
ea2aca08 DM |
306 | |
307 | --------------------------- | |
308 | ||
16d75239 RH |
309 | What: CONFIG_THERMAL_HWMON |
310 | When: January 2009 | |
311 | Why: This option was introduced just to allow older lm-sensors userspace | |
312 | to keep working over the upgrade to 2.6.26. At the scheduled time of | |
313 | removal fixed lm-sensors (2.x or 3.x) should be readily available. | |
314 | Who: Rene Herman <rene.herman@gmail.com> | |
22bb1be4 JB |
315 | |
316 | --------------------------- | |
317 | ||
318 | What: Code that is now under CONFIG_WIRELESS_EXT_SYSFS | |
319 | (in net/core/net-sysfs.c) | |
320 | When: After the only user (hal) has seen a release with the patches | |
321 | for enough time, probably some time in 2010. | |
322 | Why: Over 1K .text/.data size reduction, data is available in other | |
323 | ways (ioctls) | |
324 | Who: Johannes Berg <johannes@sipsolutions.net> | |
58401572 KPO |
325 | |
326 | --------------------------- | |
327 | ||
328 | What: CONFIG_NF_CT_ACCT | |
329 | When: 2.6.29 | |
330 | Why: Accounting can now be enabled/disabled without kernel recompilation. | |
331 | Currently used only to set a default value for a feature that is also | |
332 | controlled by a kernel/module/sysfs/sysctl parameter. | |
333 | Who: Krzysztof Piotr Oledzki <ole@ans.pl> | |
334 | ||
46dfa040 FT |
335 | --------------------------- |
336 | ||
00155a94 JD |
337 | What: i2c_attach_client(), i2c_detach_client(), i2c_driver->detach_client() |
338 | When: 2.6.29 (ideally) or 2.6.30 (more likely) | |
339 | Why: Deprecated by the new (standard) device driver binding model. Use | |
340 | i2c_driver->probe() and ->remove() instead. | |
341 | Who: Jean Delvare <khali@linux-fr.org> | |
277d342f PM |
342 | |
343 | --------------------------- | |
344 | ||
0589c2de HG |
345 | What: fscher and fscpos drivers |
346 | When: June 2009 | |
347 | Why: Deprecated by the new fschmd driver. | |
348 | Who: Hans de Goede <hdegoede@redhat.com> | |
349 | Jean Delvare <khali@linux-fr.org> | |
350 | ||
351 | --------------------------- | |
352 | ||
277d342f PM |
353 | What: SELinux "compat_net" functionality |
354 | When: 2.6.30 at the earliest | |
355 | Why: In 2.6.18 the Secmark concept was introduced to replace the "compat_net" | |
356 | network access control functionality of SELinux. Secmark offers both | |
357 | better performance and greater flexibility than the "compat_net" | |
358 | mechanism. Now that the major Linux distributions have moved to | |
359 | Secmark, it is time to deprecate the older mechanism and start the | |
360 | process of removing the old code. | |
361 | Who: Paul Moore <paul.moore@hp.com> | |
753b7aea DJ |
362 | --------------------------- |
363 | ||
364 | What: sysfs ui for changing p4-clockmod parameters | |
365 | When: September 2009 | |
366 | Why: See commits 129f8ae9b1b5be94517da76009ea956e89104ce8 and | |
367 | e088e4c9cdb618675874becb91b2fd581ee707e6. | |
368 | Removal is subject to fixing any remaining bugs in ACPI which may | |
369 | cause the thermal throttling not to happen at the right time. | |
370 | Who: Dave Jones <davej@redhat.com>, Matthew Garrett <mjg@redhat.com> | |
0e57aa11 TG |
371 | |
372 | ----------------------------- | |
373 | ||
374 | What: __do_IRQ all in one fits nothing interrupt handler | |
375 | When: 2.6.32 | |
376 | Why: __do_IRQ was kept for easy migration to the type flow handlers. | |
377 | More than two years of migration time is enough. | |
378 | Who: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> | |
cb065c06 TG |
379 | |
380 | ----------------------------- | |
381 | ||
382 | What: obsolete generic irq defines and typedefs | |
383 | When: 2.6.30 | |
384 | Why: The defines and typedefs (hw_interrupt_type, no_irq_type, irq_desc_t) | |
385 | have been kept around for migration reasons. After more than two years | |
386 | it's time to remove them finally | |
387 | Who: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> |