---------------------------
-What: x86 floppy disable_hlt
-When: 2012
-Why: ancient workaround of dubious utility clutters the
- code used by everybody else.
-Who: Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com>
-
----------------------------
-
What: CONFIG_APM_CPU_IDLE, and its ability to call APM BIOS in idle
When: 2012
Why: This optional sub-feature of APM is of dubious reliability,
---------------------------
-What: sys_sysctl
-When: September 2010
-Option: CONFIG_SYSCTL_SYSCALL
-Why: The same information is available in a more convenient from
- /proc/sys, and none of the sysctl variables appear to be
- important performance wise.
-
- Binary sysctls are a long standing source of subtle kernel
- bugs and security issues.
-
- When I looked several months ago all I could find after
- searching several distributions were 5 user space programs and
- glibc (which falls back to /proc/sys) using this syscall.
-
- The man page for sysctl(2) documents it as unusable for user
- space programs.
-
- sysctl(2) is not generally ABI compatible to a 32bit user
- space application on a 64bit and a 32bit kernel.
-
- For the last several months the policy has been no new binary
- sysctls and no one has put forward an argument to use them.
-
- Binary sysctls issues seem to keep happening appearing so
- properly deprecating them (with a warning to user space) and a
- 2 year grace warning period will mean eventually we can kill
- them and end the pain.
-
- In the mean time individual binary sysctls can be dealt with
- in a piecewise fashion.
-
-Who: Eric Biederman <ebiederm@xmission.com>
-
----------------------------
-
What: /proc/<pid>/oom_adj
When: August 2012
Why: /proc/<pid>/oom_adj allows userspace to influence the oom killer's