linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 1/4] strip: move driver to staging

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Message-ID: <20091026174317.GG2792@tuxdriver.com>
Date:	Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:43:17 -0400
From:	"John W. Linville" <linville@...driver.com>
To:	david@...g.hm
Cc:	Pavel Machek <pavel@....cz>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	gregkh@...e.de
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/4] strip: move driver to staging

On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 10:18:20AM -0700, david@...g.hm wrote:
> On Mon, 26 Oct 2009, John W. Linville wrote:

>> "ongoing maintenance for no clear benefit" -- that is what is wrong
>> with it.
>
> supporting existing hardware is no longer a 'clear benifit'?

Do you own or have access to such hardware?  If the hardware is
obsolete, unused, and mostly non-existant then what is the benefit
to maintaining a driver that is rotting?

> is this driver broken (as in not working)?

I have no idea.  I suspect that you don't know either.

> other than the fact that you don't think many people have this hardware,  
> is there anything wrong with this driver?

It sits there, bloating the target area for API maintenance and
providing a likely broken example of how to write Linux drivers.

> if this driver hasn't been changed other than for blanket API changes, 
> how is it causing significant problems?

It is a distraction for no clear (or even murky) benefit, one more
thing to keep compiling.

> if someone were to claim 'maintainership' and then do nothing other than  
> complain if someone else were to change an API but not fix this in the  
> process, how would this be different than the current situation?

Not much different, possibly worse if they created a bigger
distraction.  But if they actually had the hardware we might at least
be confident that the effort was in some way worthwhile...

John
-- 
John W. Linville		Someday the world will need a hero, and you
linville@...driver.com			might be all we have.  Be ready.
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