lkml.org 
[lkml]   [2003]   [Jul]   [30]   [last100]   RSS Feed
Views: [wrap][no wrap]   [headers]  [forward] 
 
Messages in this thread
/
From
SubjectRe: [2.6 patch] let broken drivers depend on BROKEN{,ON_SMP}
Date
Hi Adrian.

> - I do prefer BROKEN, Alan prefers OBSOLETE
> a s/BROKEN/OBSOLETE/g is acceptable for me

To me at least, BROKEN and OBSOLETE have different meanings,
and choice of which to use should depend on the circumstances.
Here's my choice of definitions for the cases that I can see:

* Driver has been replaced by a newer driver, and the old
driver is currently retained for cases that don't yet
work with the replacement. Driver will be removed in a
future kernel once the replacement handles all reported
cases.

CONFIG_OBSOLETE

* Driver is for hardware that is not supported in modern
computers, and is retained for use with older computers
only. Driver will not be removed, but is not expected to
be compiled by most users.

CONFIG_ANTIQUE

* Driver does not work, and is thus disabled. If it is not
fixed in the near future, it will be considered to be
OBSOLETE as well.

CONFIG_BROKEN

* Driver works on uniprocessor but not on SMP and is thus
disabled when compiling for SMP. It is assumed that the
driver will be fixed for SMP if relevant.

CONFIG_BROKEN_ON_SMP

* Driver was BROKEN some considerable number of releases
ago, and has never been fixed. It is thus assumed that
the driver is for some device that none of the kernel
developers is using. The driver will be removed in the
transition to the next major release if it retains this
status.

CONFIG_BROKEN && CONFIG_OBSOLETE

Personally, I'd like to see CONFIG_ANTIQUE (defaulting to "n")
as a dependency for all drivers matching the description above
simply to cut down on the amount of irrelevant choices in the
configuration process.

Best wishes from Riley.
---
* Nothing as pretty as a smile, nothing as ugly as a frown.

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.504 / Virus Database: 302 - Release Date: 24-Jul-2003

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/

\
 
 \ /
  Last update: 2005-03-22 13:47    [W:0.051 / U:0.980 seconds]
©2003-2020 Jasper Spaans|hosted at Digital Ocean and TransIP|Read the blog|Advertise on this site