What: Video4Linux API 1 ioctls and video_decoder.h from Video devices.
When: December 2006
Files: include/linux/video_decoder.h
+Check: include/linux/video_decoder.h
Why: V4L1 AP1 was replaced by V4L2 API. during migration from 2.4 to 2.6
series. The old API have lots of drawbacks and don't provide enough
means to work with all video and audio standards. The newer API is
What: remove EXPORT_SYMBOL(kernel_thread)
When: August 2006
Files: arch/*/kernel/*_ksyms.c
-Funcs: kernel_thread
+Check: kernel_thread
Why: kernel_thread is a low-level implementation detail. Drivers should
use the <linux/kthread.h> API instead which shields them from
implementation details and provides a higherlevel interface that
---------------------------
-What: filemap_nopage, filemap_populate
-When: April 2007
-Why: These legacy interfaces no longer have any callers in the kernel and
- any functionality provided can be provided with filemap_fault. The
- removal schedule is short because they are a big maintainence burden
- and have some bugs.
-Who: Nick Piggin <npiggin@suse.de>
-
----------------------------
-
-What: vm_ops.populate, install_page
-When: April 2007
-Why: These legacy interfaces no longer have any callers in the kernel and
- any functionality provided can be provided with vm_ops.fault.
-Who: Nick Piggin <npiggin@suse.de>
-
----------------------------
-
What: vm_ops.nopage
-When: February 2008, provided in-kernel callers have been converted
+When: Soon, provided in-kernel callers have been converted
Why: This interface is replaced by vm_ops.fault, but it has been around
forever, is used by a lot of drivers, and doesn't cost much to
maintain.
---------------------------
-What: i2c-isa
-When: December 2006
-Why: i2c-isa is a non-sense and doesn't fit in the device driver
- model. Drivers relying on it are better implemented as platform
- drivers.
-Who: Jean Delvare <khali@linux-fr.org>
-
----------------------------
-
What: i2c_adapter.list
When: July 2007
Why: Superfluous, this list duplicates the one maintained by the driver
---------------------------
-What: /sys/firmware/acpi/namespace
-When: 2.6.21
-Why: The ACPI namespace is effectively the symbol list for
- the BIOS. The device names are completely arbitrary
- and have no place being exposed to user-space.
-
- For those interested in the BIOS ACPI namespace,
- the BIOS can be extracted and disassembled with acpidump
- and iasl as documented in the pmtools package here:
- http://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/lenb/acpi/utils
-Who: Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com>
-
----------------------------
-
What: ACPI procfs interface
-When: July 2007
-Why: After ACPI sysfs conversion, ACPI attributes will be duplicated
- in sysfs and the ACPI procfs interface should be removed.
+When: July 2008
+Why: ACPI sysfs conversion should be finished by January 2008.
+ ACPI procfs interface will be removed in July 2008 so that
+ there is enough time for the user space to catch up.
Who: Zhang Rui <rui.zhang@intel.com>
---------------------------
---------------------------
-What: read_dev_chars(), read_conf_data{,_lpm}() (s390 common I/O layer)
-When: December 2007
-Why: These functions are a leftover from 2.4 times. They have several
- problems:
- - Duplication of checks that are done in the device driver's
- interrupt handler
- - common I/O layer can't do device specific error recovery
- - device driver can't be notified for conditions happening during
- execution of the function
- Device drivers should issue the read device characteristics and read
- configuration data ccws and do the appropriate error handling
- themselves.
-Who: Cornelia Huck <cornelia.huck@de.ibm.com>
-
----------------------------
-
What: i2c-ixp2000, i2c-ixp4xx and scx200_i2c drivers
When: September 2007
Why: Obsolete. The new i2c-gpio driver replaces all hardware-specific