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[Bug 1543919] [NEW] (Wishlist) Remove EISA support from main kernel image and make it M (modular)?

 

Public bug reported:

(This is a sort of RfC. )

I have a PC that still has the good old PCI ports, but I am 100% sure that the active use of EISA dates back yet more 10 years.
In other words, boards that _only_ support EISA date back 25 years now, while those that provide *one* EISA slot date back roughly 15 years (one of the Elitegroup K7 series comes to mind, from about 2001/02).

So the EISA support *should* be provided, as we should even support ancient hardware (Linux principle :))
However, why the EISA support is *compiled in* is beyond me.

For instance, it creates lots of totally unnecessary noise in dmesg:

[    0.080000] EISA bus registered
[    1.598316] platform eisa.0: Probing EISA bus 0
[    1.598345] platform eisa.0: Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 1          (repeated 10 times, i=i+1)
[    1.598368] platform eisa.0: EISA: Detected 0 cards

For a 1997 mainboard, this would make perfect sense.
But it is very probable that said mainboard would require linux-image-extra nonetheless to support some days-of-yore chipset.

So why not leave it as a *module*, while removing its support from main
kernel image once and for all?

Your turn.

** Affects: linux (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Incomplete

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1543919

Title:
  (Wishlist) Remove EISA support from main kernel image and make it M
  (modular)?

Status in linux package in Ubuntu:
  Incomplete

Bug description:
  (This is a sort of RfC. )

  I have a PC that still has the good old PCI ports, but I am 100% sure that the active use of EISA dates back yet more 10 years.
  In other words, boards that _only_ support EISA date back 25 years now, while those that provide *one* EISA slot date back roughly 15 years (one of the Elitegroup K7 series comes to mind, from about 2001/02).

  So the EISA support *should* be provided, as we should even support ancient hardware (Linux principle :))
  However, why the EISA support is *compiled in* is beyond me.

  For instance, it creates lots of totally unnecessary noise in dmesg:

  [    0.080000] EISA bus registered
  [    1.598316] platform eisa.0: Probing EISA bus 0
  [    1.598345] platform eisa.0: Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 1          (repeated 10 times, i=i+1)
  [    1.598368] platform eisa.0: EISA: Detected 0 cards

  For a 1997 mainboard, this would make perfect sense.
  But it is very probable that said mainboard would require linux-image-extra nonetheless to support some days-of-yore chipset.

  So why not leave it as a *module*, while removing its support from
  main kernel image once and for all?

  Your turn.

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