Re: [PATCH 0/2] net: ethernet: Remove the 8390 network drivers

[Michael Schmitz]

Cai,

a number of the 8390 drivers are still in active use on legacy 
architectures. These drivers get occasional updates (not just bugfixes, 
but support for 'new' network cards - I have a patch to add X-Surf 500 
support somewhere in the pipline).

Removing the 8390 drivers would leave most m68k legacy systems without 
networking support.

Unless there is a clear and compelling reason to do so, these drivers 
should not be removed.

Cheers,

	Michael

Am 08.08.2021 um 02:56 schrieb Cai Huoqing:
> commit <0cf445ceaf43> ("<netdev: Update status of 8390 based drivers>")
> indicated the 8390 network drivers as orphan/obsolete in Jan 2011,
> updated in the MAINTAINERS file.
>
> now, after being exposed for 10 years to refactoring and
> no one has become its maintainer for the past 10 years,
> so to remove the 8390 network drivers for good.
>
> additionally, 8390 is a kind of old ethernet chip based on
> ISA interface which is hard to find in the market.
>
> Cai Huoqing (2):
>   net: ethernet: Remove the 8390 network drivers
>   MAINTAINERS: Remove the 8390 network drivers info
>
>  MAINTAINERS                           |    6 -
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/8390.c      |  103 --
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/8390.h      |  236 ----
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/8390p.c     |  105 --
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/Kconfig     |  212 ---
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/Makefile    |   20 -
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/apne.c      |  619 ---------
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/ax88796.c   | 1022 ---------------
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/axnet_cs.c  | 1707 ------------------------
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/etherh.c    |  856 -------------
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/hydra.c     |  273 ----
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/lib8390.c   | 1092 ----------------
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/mac8390.c   |  848 ------------
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/mcf8390.c   |  475 -------
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/ne.c        | 1004 ---------------
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/ne2k-pci.c  |  747 -----------
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/pcnet_cs.c  | 1708 -------------------------
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/smc-ultra.c |  629 ---------
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/stnic.c     |  303 -----
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/wd.c        |  574 ---------
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/xsurf100.c  |  377 ------
>  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/zorro8390.c |  452 -------
>  drivers/net/ethernet/Kconfig          |    1 -
>  drivers/net/ethernet/Makefile         |    1 -
>  24 files changed, 13370 deletions(-)
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/8390.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/8390.h
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/8390p.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/Kconfig
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/Makefile
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/apne.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/ax88796.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/axnet_cs.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/etherh.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/hydra.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/lib8390.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/mac8390.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/mcf8390.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/ne.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/ne2k-pci.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/pcnet_cs.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/smc-ultra.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/stnic.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/wd.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/xsurf100.c
>  delete mode 100644 drivers/net/ethernet/8390/zorro8390.c