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    SubjectRe: [PATCH] scsi: delete decade+ obsolete aic7xxx_old driver
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    On Tue, 2013-09-17 at 16:29 +0200, Hannes Reinecke wrote:
    > On 09/17/2013 04:13 AM, Doug Ledford wrote:
    > > Yes, this driver is well past ready to be removed.
    > >
    > > Acked-by: Doug Ledford <dledford@redhat.com>
    > >
    > > Sent from my ASUS Pad
    > >
    > > Paul Gortmaker <paul.gortmaker@windriver.com> wrote:
    > >
    > >> After getting warnings in an allyesconfig build[1] from this
    > >> driver, I decided to remind myself just how old it was, and
    > >> whether it warranted fixing. In the Kconfig help text, I found:
    > >>
    > >> "This driver will eventually be phased out entirely"
    > >>
    > >> Going back to the history archive, I see the line was added[2]
    > >> in Feb 2002, when we moved from v2.4.2.1 ---> v2.4.2.2
    > >>
    > >> So, with over a decade of notification, and multiple major releases
    > >> since then, I think we can justify removing this. Currently we have
    > >> people wasting time building it during routine testing, and then
    > >> wasting more time re-researching the known reported warnings, only to
    > >> find that nobody really is willing to integrate the fixes[3] for it.
    > >>
    > >> A quick search didn't seem to indicate any active user base for it.
    > >> If someone happens to have a quirky _old_ card that the eleven year
    > >> old "new" driver doesn't work with, then it is entirely reasonable
    > >> that they stick with a kernel version that predates this removal.
    > >>
    > >> [1] drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c: In function ‘aic7xxx_register’:
    > >> drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c:7901:5: warning: case value ‘257’ not in enumerated type ‘ahc_chip’ [-Wswitch]
    > >> drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c:7898:5: warning: case value ‘513’ not in enumerated type ‘ahc_chip’ [-Wswitch]
    > >> drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c: In function ‘aic7xxx_load_seeprom’:
    > >> drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c:8517:5: warning: case value ‘257’ not in enumerated type ‘ahc_chip’ [-Wswitch]
    > >> drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c:8510:5: warning: case value ‘513’ not in enumerated type ‘ahc_chip’ [-Wswitch]
    > >>
    > >> [2] http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/tglx/history.git commit 44e8778c
    > >>
    > >> [3] https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/10/29/215
    > >>
    > >> Cc: Hannes Reinecke <hare@suse.de>
    > >> Cc: Doug Ledford <dledford@redhat.com>
    > >> Cc: "James E.J. Bottomley" <JBottomley@parallels.com>
    > >> Signed-off-by: Paul Gortmaker <paul.gortmaker@windriver.com>
    >
    > However, if we do this we're removing support for any non-PCI based
    > adapters. I personally doubt that there are any installations left
    > running on (E)ISA or VLB. But we should be clear on this.

    Actually, that's not true: the aic7xxx driver has support for EISA (I
    know because I've got one) but not the VLB and some of the really old
    cards.

    > In general I'm in favour removing obsolete drivers, so

    OK, so do we have any real evidence that no-one uses this driver? Does
    any distro actually compile it, for instance?

    James


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