HEAD UP: non-MPSAFE network drivers to be disabled (was: 8.0 network stack MPsafety goals (fwd))

[Robert Watson]

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008, Robert Watson wrote:

> An FYI on the state of things here: in the last month, John has updated a 
> number of device drivers to be MPSAFE, and the USB work remains in-flight. 
> I'm holding fire a bit on disabling IFF_NEEDSGIANT while things settle and I 
> catch up on driver state, and will likely send out an update next week 
> regarding which device drivers remain on the kill list, and generally what 
> the status of this project is.

Here's the revised list of drivers that will have their build disabled in the 
next week (subject to an appropriate block of time for me):

Name	Bus		Man page description
----	---		--------------------
ar	ISA/PCI		synchronous Digi/Arnet device driver
arl	ISA		Aironet Arlan 655 wireless network adapter driver
cnw	ISA		Netwave AirSurfer wireless network driver
ic	I2C		I2C bus system
oltr	ISA/PCI		Olicom Token Ring device driver
plip	PPBUS		printer port Internet Protocol driver
ppp	TTY		point to point protocol network interface
ray	PCCARD		Raytheon Raylink/Webgear Aviator PCCard driver
sbni	ISA/PCI		Granch SBNI12 leased line modem driver
sbsh	PCI		Granch SBNI16 SHDSL modem device driver
sl	TTY		slip network interface
snc	ISA/PCCARD	National Semiconductor DP8393X SONIC Ethernet adapter
 			driver
sppp	TTY		point to point protocol network layer for synchronous
 			lines
sr	ISA/PCI		synchronous RISCom/N2 / WANic 400/405 device driver

Obviously, if necessary work is done to remove the IFF_NEEDSGIANT requirement 
from a driver, it will be pulled from the list, and I'll do an IFF_NEEDSGIANT 
scan before pulling the plug.  Drivers will remain in the tree but 
disconnected for about a month before being removed from HEAD.  Thanks greatly 
to John and others who have worked hard to reduce the size of the list in the 
last year!

The following USB drivers will remain enabled due to on-going USB work that 
should eliminate IFF_NEEDSGIANT:

Name	Bus		Man page description
----	---		--------------------
axe	USB		ASIX Electronics AX88172 USB Ethernet driver
cdce	USB		USB Communication Device Class Ethernet driver
cue	USB		CATC USB-EL1210A USB Ethernet driver
kue	USB		Kawasaki LSI KL5KUSB101B USB Ethernet driver
rue	USB		RealTek RTL8150 USB to Fast Ethernet controller
rum	USB		Ralink Technology USB IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless
 			network device
udav	USB		Davicom DM9601 USB Ethernet driver
ural	USB		Ralink Technology RT2500USB IEEE 802.11 driver
zyd	USB		ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B USB IEEE 802.11b/g wireless
 			network device

The following drivers reference IFF_NEEDSGIANT but only when running in an 
optional non-MPSAFE mode; that optional mode will be removed but the drivers 
will remain:

Name	Bus		Man page description
----	---		--------------------
ce	PCI		driver for synchronous Cronyx Tau-PCI/32 WAN adapters
cp	PCI		driver for synchronous Cronyx Tau-PCI WAN adapters
ctau	ISA		driver for synchronous Cronyx Tau WAN adapters
cx	ISA		driver for synchronous/asynchronous Cronyx Sigma WAN
 			adapters

Robert N M Watson
Computer Laboratory
University of Cambridge