From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1757664AbXGBNuo (ORCPT ); Mon, 2 Jul 2007 09:50:44 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1751817AbXGBNuf (ORCPT ); Mon, 2 Jul 2007 09:50:35 -0400 Received: from nic.NetDirect.CA ([216.16.235.2]:55823 "EHLO rubicon.netdirect.ca" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751558AbXGBNue (ORCPT ); Mon, 2 Jul 2007 09:50:34 -0400 X-Originating-Ip: 72.143.66.27 Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 09:48:35 -0400 (EDT) From: "Robert P. J. Day" X-X-Sender: rpjday@localhost.localdomain To: Alan Cox cc: Linux Kernel Mailing List , eng.linux@digi.com Subject: Re: [PATCH][RFC] Remove support for the orphaned, obsolete Digi EPCA driver. In-Reply-To: <20070702144605.5cf99b3a@the-village.bc.nu> Message-ID: References: <20070702144605.5cf99b3a@the-village.bc.nu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Net-Direct-Inc-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information X-Net-Direct-Inc-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-Net-Direct-Inc-MailScanner-SpamCheck: not spam, SpamAssassin (not cached, score=-16.8, required 5, autolearn=not spam, ALL_TRUSTED -1.80, BAYES_00 -15.00, INIT_RECVD_OUR_AUTH -20.00, RCVD_IN_SORBS_DUL 20.00) X-Net-Direct-Inc-MailScanner-From: rpjday@mindspring.com Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Mon, 2 Jul 2007, Alan Cox wrote: > On Mon, 2 Jul 2007 09:14:24 -0400 (EDT) > "Robert P. J. Day" wrote: > > > > > Signed-off-by: Robert P. J. Day > > > > --- > > > > everything indicates that this driver is thoroughly dead. the > > MAINTAINERS file describes it as "Orphaned", while the file > > Documentation/digiepca.txt reads: > > NAK > > > "NOTE: This driver is obsolete. Digi provides a 2.6 driver (dgdm) at > > http://www.digi.com for PCI cards. They no longer maintain this driver, > > and have no 2.6 driver for ISA cards. > > This driver is obsolete from the kernel at the point the new digi drivers > are merged. > > > This driver requires a number of user-space tools. They can be acquired from > > http://www.digi.com, but only works with 2.4 kernels." > > So fix them or merge the newer digi drivers first. ok, but what then does it mean to read that this driver: 1) *requires* a number of user-space tools, and 2) these tools don't work with the 2.6 kernel? how then does this driver have any value under 2.6 if it requires user-space support that doesn't exist for 2.6? obviously, i'll withdraw the patch, but it's still a mystery to me how that driver can have any value under a 2.6 kernel, just based on what's written above. rday -- ======================================================================== Robert P. J. Day Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA http://fsdev.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page ========================================================================