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On Mon, 2019-03-25 at 15:19 -0400, Joshua Kinard wrote: |
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> Throwing a question out there on whether to keep both the net-fs/ncpfs and |
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> net-misc/ipx-utils packages around any longer. Kernel upstream removed both |
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> the IPX (Internetwork Packet eXchange) protocol and NCPFS (NetWare Core |
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> Protocol Filesystem) support back in ~4.18 due to lack of maintenance. I |
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> know the code in both generally worked fine back then, as I have a few |
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> NetWare VMs that I was able to mount filesystems from in Linux, even on my |
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> MIPS hardware. |
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> |
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> However, it is effectively a dead protocol and dead filesystem for a dead |
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> operating system (NetWare). I don't see anyone resurrecting IPX/NCPFS and |
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> updating to get it re-included it in the kernel, either. I was tempted once |
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> to try, but I just don't have the time anymore. |
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> |
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> I think we're one of the last distros to even keep IPX/NCPFS-related |
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> packages around long-term. With no viable upstream for ncpfs anymore, and |
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> with no kernel support in Linux (or even FreeBSD; they deprecated IPX in |
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> ~10.0-RELEASE), I think it's time to remove this package and any related |
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> packages. |
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> |
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> One catch is, sys-kernel/gentoo-sources still keeps 4.4, 4.9, and 4.14 |
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> stable kernel series around. These can still technically use IPX/NCPFS, and |
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> therefore, there might be users using it. |
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> |
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> A quick poll of the portage tree suggests these changes are needed: |
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> |
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> Delete USE flag reference: |
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> net-analyzer/hydra |
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> profiles/use.local.desc (remove hydra's local 'ncp' entry) |
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> |
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> Remove ebuilds: |
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> net-fs/ncpfs |
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> net-misc/ipx-utils |
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> |
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> Remove filesystem reference?: |
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> sys-apps/mlocate/files/updatedb.conf |
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> |
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> Remove reference to 'ipx-utils': |
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> profiles/license_groups |
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> |
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> |
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> Thoughts? |
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> |
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|
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Last rite them with 60 day period. If someone actually uses them, |
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you'll learn about it and get some data to decide how to proceed |
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afterwards. Plus, users who actually might still use them would get |
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a fair warning they're going to be dropped in the future. |
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|
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-- |
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Best regards, |
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Michał Górny |