Re: Future of the ie(4) driver

On Thu, 5 Jul 2007, Kip Macy wrote:

>> I am the proud owner of one ie(4) board.
>> 
>> just now, the machine using it is running -Stable, but I can easily arrange 
>> for dual booting with -Current.
>
> An outstanding issue for it is that the NET_GIANT infrastructure is going 
> away in 7.0, so if_ie will also need to be locked in order to remain.

That's actually not the case -- NET_NEEDS_GIANT eliminates support for 
non-MPSAFE protocol stacks, not non-MPSAFE device drivers.  IFF_NEEDSGIANT 
will, sadly, remain, as several core drivers/frameworks still require Giant. 
Things on the chopping board for 7.0, hopefully to be restored for 7.1 once 
locked, are:

- i4b
- netatm
- ng_h4

Things removed entirely:

- KAME IPSEC, replaced with FAST_IPSEC now it supports IPv6

However, I do hope to make non-MPSAFE network interface drivers go away in 
8-CURRENT, so people who want their non-MPSAFE network interface drivers to 
persist need to either lock them down or work with someone to test locking 
patches for them.

Robert N M Watson
Computer Laboratory
University of Cambridge