Re: [PATCH] scsi: delete decade+ obsolete aic7xxx_old driver

[Hannes Reinecke]

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@xxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> Sent from my ASUS Pad
> 
> Paul Gortmaker <paul.gortmaker@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 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 âaic7xxx_registerâ:
>>    drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c:7901:5: warning: case value â257â not in enumerated type âahc_chipâ [-Wswitch]
>>    drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c:7898:5: warning: case value â513â not in enumerated type âahc_chipâ [-Wswitch]
>>    drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c: In function âaic7xxx_load_seepromâ:
>>    drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c:8517:5: warning: case value â257â not in enumerated type âahc_chipâ [-Wswitch]
>>    drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old.c:8510:5: warning: case value â513â not in enumerated type âahc_chipâ [-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@xxxxxxx>
>> Cc: Doug Ledford <dledford@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> Cc: "James E.J. Bottomley" <JBottomley@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Signed-off-by: Paul Gortmaker <paul.gortmaker@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

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.

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

Acked-by: Hannes Reinecke <hare@xxxxxxx>

Cheers,

Hannes
-- 
Dr. Hannes Reinecke		      zSeries & Storage
hare@xxxxxxx			      +49 911 74053 688
SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Maxfeldstr. 5, 90409 NÃrnberg
GF: J. Hawn, J. Guild, F. ImendÃrffer, HRB 16746 (AG NÃrnberg)
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