On Thu, 2008-07-03 at 23:52 +0200, Hans Verkuil wrote: > RFC: remove support from v4l-dvb for kernels < 2.6.16 > > After spending some time trying to get v4l-dvb to compile on older > kernels I discovered that: > > - it is OK for kernels >= 2.6.19 > > - it does not compile at the moment for kernels >= 2.6.16 and < 2.6.19, > but that this can be fixed. > > - that it can be made to compile for kernels >= 2.6.12 and < 2.6.16, > although quite a few drivers had to be disabled and looking at the type > of compile warnings emitted the result would likely crash, especially > the closer one gets to 2.6.12. > > - that I no longer can compile against older kernels since gcc-4.1.2 no > longer accepts some constructions used in those kernel sources. But a user can have an old kernel version and an old tool chain. IMO I don't think gcc's version is a valid criterion, as that makes an assumption about what the user is using to build his very old kernel. I know Fedora 5 used to include a gcc-3.2.3 (in the compat-gcc-32 package) for compiling older stuff. I guess there was a major shift in gcc after that point. (I use gcc-3.2.3 in building the x86_64-mips cross compiler tool chain for building the linux v2.4.20 firmware for my router.) > I did a few scans and of the approximately 932 KERNEL_VERSION checks > only 268 remain if we drop support for anything below 2.6.26. That's a > major cleanup. > Since it is now simply broken for anything below 2.6.19 I think it is a > good solution to on the one hand do a major cleanup at the expense of > making it unlikely that we will ever support kernels below 2.6.16, and > on the other hand at least start to support 2.6.16 and up. Only supporting 2.6.26 onward would prompt a surge of questions regarding compilation problems for users who are only a few kernel versions behind. I think your suggestion of supporting a few kernels back (2.6.16 or 2.6.19) is preferable. My $0.02 -Andy _______________________________________________ linux-dvb mailing list linux-dvb@xxxxxxxxxxx http://www.linuxtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linux-dvb
