[2.6 patch] ftape: remove some outdated information from Kconfig files

[2.6 patch] ftape: remove some outdated information from Kconfig files

[Adrian Bunk]

This patch removes some outdated information about the ftape driver like 
pointers to no longer existing webpages from Kconfig files.


Signed-off-by: Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>

---

 drivers/char/Kconfig       |   10 ----------
 drivers/char/ftape/Kconfig |   12 +-----------
 2 files changed, 1 insertion(+), 21 deletions(-)

--- linux-2.6.15-mm2-full/drivers/char/Kconfig.old	2006-01-10 21:32:49.000000000 +0100
+++ linux-2.6.15-mm2-full/drivers/char/Kconfig	2006-01-10 21:33:11.000000000 +0100
@@ -881,16 +881,6 @@
 	  module. To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
 	  module will be called ftape.
 
-	  Note that the Ftape-HOWTO is out of date (sorry) and documents the
-	  older version 2.08 of this software but still contains useful
-	  information.  There is a web page with more recent documentation at
-	  <http://www.instmath.rwth-aachen.de/~heine/ftape/>.  This page
-	  always contains the latest release of the ftape driver and useful
-	  information (backup software, ftape related patches and
-	  documentation, FAQ).  Note that the file system interface has
-	  changed quite a bit compared to previous versions of ftape.  Please
-	  read <file:Documentation/ftape.txt>.
-
 source "drivers/char/ftape/Kconfig"
 
 endmenu
--- linux-2.6.15-mm2-full/drivers/char/ftape/Kconfig.old	2006-01-10 21:33:21.000000000 +0100
+++ linux-2.6.15-mm2-full/drivers/char/ftape/Kconfig	2006-01-10 21:34:02.000000000 +0100
@@ -25,17 +25,7 @@
 	  support", above) then `zft-compressor' will be loaded
 	  automatically by zftape when needed.
 
-	  Despite its name, zftape does NOT use compression by default.  The
-	  file <file:Documentation/ftape.txt> contains a short description of
-	  the most important changes in the file system interface compared to
-	  previous versions of ftape.  The ftape home page
-	  <http://www.instmath.rwth-aachen.de/~heine/ftape/> contains
-	  further information.
-
-	  IMPORTANT NOTE: zftape can read archives created by previous
-	  versions of ftape and provide file mark support (i.e. fast skipping
-	  between tape archives) but previous version of ftape will lack file
-	  mark support when reading archives produced by zftape.
+	  Despite its name, zftape does NOT use compression by default.
 
 config ZFT_DFLT_BLK_SZ
 	int "Default block size"

Re: [2.6 patch] ftape: remove some outdated information from Kconfig files

[Marcin Dalecki]

On 2006-01-10, at 21:57, Adrian Bunk wrote:

> This patch removes some outdated information about the ftape driver  
> like
> pointers to no longer existing webpages from Kconfig files.

You could just remove this driver completely as well. Because  
practically since
it's inclusion in to the main stream kernel it has been outdated and  
nonfunctioning.

1. Formerly the actually usable driver has actually maintained under  
the URL data you remove.
2. Nobody ever cared to synchronize the maintained driver and the in  
kernel one.
3. The physical recording format in the driver provided with the  
kernel is broken.
4. Right now the corresponding user space tools can't be found on the  
web any longer.
5. I'm not talking about years. Its more then 5 years in this case.

Re: [2.6 patch] ftape: remove some outdated information from Kconfig files

[Mikael Pettersson]

Marcin Dalecki writes:
 > 
 > On 2006-01-10, at 21:57, Adrian Bunk wrote:
 > 
 > > This patch removes some outdated information about the ftape driver  
 > > like
 > > pointers to no longer existing webpages from Kconfig files.
 > 
 > You could just remove this driver completely as well. Because  
 > practically since
 > it's inclusion in to the main stream kernel it has been outdated and  
 > nonfunctioning.

There exists configurations for which it does work.

 > 4. Right now the corresponding user space tools can't be found on the  
 > web any longer.

The only required tools are standard things like mt and tar or cpio.
The tape formatting tools are out in the wild somewhere, big deal.

Or are you volunteering to take over maintenance of ftape-4.x and merge
that into the kernel?

Re: [2.6 patch] ftape: remove some outdated information from Kconfig files

[Marcin Dalecki]

On 2006-01-11, at 11:57, Mikael Pettersson wrote:

> Marcin Dalecki writes:
>>
>> On 2006-01-10, at 21:57, Adrian Bunk wrote:
>>
>>> This patch removes some outdated information about the ftape driver
>>> like
>>> pointers to no longer existing webpages from Kconfig files.
>>
>> You could just remove this driver completely as well. Because
>> practically since
>> it's inclusion in to the main stream kernel it has been outdated and
>> nonfunctioning.
>
> There exists configurations for which it does work.
>
>> 4. Right now the corresponding user space tools can't be found on the
>> web any longer.
>
> The only required tools are standard things like mt and tar or cpio.
> The tape formatting tools are out in the wild somewhere, big deal.

There are definitively no tape formatting tools for the in-kernel  
version.
Formatting was only supported by the external driver ever.
And this brings your former statement about some supposedly working  
configurations
in to question.

> Or are you volunteering to take over maintenance of ftape-4.x and  
> merge
> that into the kernel?

No. Tough I have been messing with the ftape driver a *long* time ago  
and
still have two QIC drives in the dust bin - I'm considering this kind
of hardware obsolete by a large margin.