Re: ok to kill "ether=" kernel parm?

From: Alexey Dobriyan
Date: Tue Aug 28 2007 - 14:51:51 EST


On Tue, Aug 28, 2007 at 01:58:05PM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Aug 2007, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
>
> > Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> > > On Tue, 28 Aug 2007, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> > >
> > >> Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> > >>> given that "ether=" has been officially obsolete since 2.6.18
> > >>> (replaced by "netdev="), is there any reason to keep it around?
> > >>> or can it be blasted?
> > >> That sounds like way too short of a timeline for breaking people's
> > >> working boot setup. For a lot of people, 2.6.18->current is going
> > >> to be a single step.
> > >
> > > actually, now that i look more closely at the code browser at
> > > lxr.linux.no, "ether=" has been listed as "obsolete" since *at least*
> > > 2.6.10. not to sound unsympathetic but anyone who tries to jump from
> > > 2.6.10 to 2.6.24 in one step deserves what they get. :-)
> > >
> > > ok, that was cruel, but you see my point, right?
> >
> > Yes, and I think it's quite pointless.
> >
> > The thing is, people's boot setups have probably been that way since
> > *long* before 2.6.9. They continue to work, as they should, so they
> > aren't changed. This is why we very rarely break boot interfaces
> > (and this is a user-visible interface you're talking about); we're
> > still supporting interfaces that have been obsolete *SINCE BEFORE
> > 1.0 WAS RELEASED.*
> >
> > What's the upside of changing? What's the downside? The upside is
> > so infinitesimal that that leaving "ether=" in indefinitely seems
> > like a good move to me.
>
> i've never found these "well, it's not hurting anything" arguments
> terribly compelling.

And? AFAICS, handler doesn't even print boot time warning message that
ether= is obsoleted.
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/