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Message-ID: <ZxgRXmPZrhKUegon@google.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2024 13:55:58 -0700
From: Dmitry Torokhov <dmitry.torokhov@...il.com>
To: "Maciej W. Rozycki" <macro@...am.me.uk>
Cc: linux-input@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
Vojtech Pavlik <vojtech@....cz>, Jiri Kosina <jikos@...nel.org>,
Benjamin Tissoires <bentiss@...nel.org>
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH 0/5] Removal of a few obsolete input drivers
On Thu, Aug 15, 2024 at 10:20:49PM +0100, Maciej W. Rozycki wrote:
> On Mon, 12 Aug 2024, Dmitry Torokhov wrote:
>
> > > > > Are these drivers broken, e.g. fail to compile or crash the system?
> > > >
> > > > I have no idea because I doubt that anyone has tested them since
> > > > forever.
> > >
> > > What's the rationale for your conclusion? How do you know nobody uses
> > > them?
> >
> > Because they are either require ISA add-on cards and it is quite hard to
> > find devices that still work, and are supported by the current kernel,
> > or internal peripherals in devices that are no longer useful. Do you
> > expect anyone using "Gateway AOL Connected Touchpad" in the year of our
> > Lord 2024?
>
> Maybe, maybe not.
>
> I certainly use Linux with actual ISA hardware, i.e. systems with ISA or
> EISA slots and option cards within, as well as other hardware dating back
> to 1989. I'm told people use Linux with m68k hardware going back in time
> even further. I don't use any of the bus mice themselves though (having
> had perhaps a more common serial mouse instead), but if the drivers build
> just fine, then I fail to see a reason to dump them.
OK, so here is an example:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20241010194533.GA575181@bhelgaas/
We need to cleanup PCI core and the driver uses a hack. So we need
to patch it.
>
> > > > The same gain that we get from removing obsolete boards and
> > > > architectures - less maintenance burden, less work when we need to
> > > > change some APIs, less energy burnt by 0-day and other bots, CI systems,
> > > > etc, compiling useless drivers over and over and over.
> > >
> > > Well, you don't have do do anything about these drivers, do you? They
> > > don't scream for food. And as to the energy, well I doubt this really
> > > matters, the amount is noise lost in the overall consumption.
> >
> > I kind of do even if they did not require much involvement.
> >
> > Let me ask this: why do you want to keep them? Do you know of a large
> > (or small) userbase of bus mice enthusiasts? Note that it would be very
> > easy to "git revert" the removal if someone actually needs this.
>
> There is burden involved as well as repo clutter from going through an
> apply/revert cycle though.
You are assuming that somebody actually needs them and will have to
restore them.
>
> Sometimes we do want to discard code, because it causes burden elsewhere.
> It was the case with the removal of support for the original 80386 CPU due
> to its lack of user page write-protection in the kernel mode, which in
> turn required us to have explicit checks carefully sprinkled throughout
> and painfully maintained. That hindered generic code and was a good
> argument in favour to removal as soon as 80386 became unimportant enough.
>
> In this case the decision seems arbitrary, the presence of these drivers
> does not hurt anything else. I agree it might well be that nobody uses
> them anymore (though someone may come across a relevant piece of hardware
> anytime and wish to try it with Linux; I do it from time to time, and I
> also have old stuff even I'd like to write entirely new drivers for if I
> ever find some time for that, i.e. I have sorted higher priority stuff),
> which I can sort of recognise as an argument in favour of discarding them.
>
> I'm not entirely convinced it's enough of an argument by itself, however
> if there are other people who think otherwise, can we please at least do
> it in stages such as some other projects do? That is require an explicit
> action for any interested party to keep the drivers enabled, say by hiding
> them behind CONFIG_DEPRECATED or suchlike (with clear documentation saying
> it's for stuff slated for removal), wait a year or two, and only if nobody
> speaks out during that period, then actually retire the code in question?
I do not see how CONFIG_DEPRECATED help any better than revert. The
driver will disappear, people will start looking for it and will
complain on Linux Input/LKML. At which point we will revert either the
config change or driver removal patch.
If the argument that with config someone does not need git tree but
rather can work with a tarball I say I really do not care for this case.
>
> A part of the joy with Linux for me and I believe other people as well it
> has been the ability to do odd stuff just for the sake of it. It used not
> to be business back in 1990s and it still not is, not at least entirely,
> for such a Linux old-timer as I have now oddly enough become.
We are still willing to support old hardware, but only when it is
actually used.
Thanks.
--
Dmitry
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