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ata: sata_inic162x: remove dangerous broken driver

PATCH Applied Ethan Nelson-Moore 3 participants 3 messages Sep 15

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PATCH 1/1 ata: sata_inic162x: remove dangerous broken driver

The sata_inic162x driver was labeled as "very experimental" in commit bb9696192826 ("libata: make it clear that sata_inic162x is experimental") due to data corruption issues, but not marked as broken. Since then, no changes have been made to it that could fix these issues. Since the driver was not marked as broken, and the message about potential data corruption is only visible in the code and dmesg, it is possible that someone could enable the driver without realizing its potential for data corruption. Remove the driver to protect users' data.

Fixes 1fd7a697a37b ("sata_inic162x: finally, driver for initio 162x SATA controllers, take #2")
---
 drivers/ata/Kconfig         |   7 -
 drivers/ata/Makefile        |   1 -
 drivers/ata/sata_inic162x.c | 903 ------------------------------------
 3 files changed, 911 deletions(-)
 delete mode 100644 drivers/ata/sata_inic162x.c
drivers/ata/Kconfig +0 -7
index 28ca856ecc75..8ef9398b704f 100644
@@ -328,13 +328,6 @@ config SATA_AHCI_SEATTLE
 
 	 If unsure, say N
 
-config SATA_INIC162X
-	tristate "Initio 162x SATA support (Very Experimental)"
-	depends on PCI
-	select SATA_HOST
-	help
-	  This option enables support for Initio 162x Serial ATA.
-
 config SATA_ACARD_AHCI
 	tristate "ACard AHCI variant (ATP 8620)"
 	depends on PCI
drivers/ata/Makefile +0 -1
index b96025abd45e..55b89c09dd74 100644
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ obj-$(CONFIG_SATA_AHCI_SEATTLE)	+= ahci_seattle.o libahci.o libahci_platform.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_SATA_AHCI_PLATFORM) += ahci_platform.o libahci.o libahci_platform.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_SATA_FSL)		+= sata_fsl.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_SATA_GEMINI)	+= sata_gemini.o
-obj-$(CONFIG_SATA_INIC162X)	+= sata_inic162x.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_SATA_SIL24)	+= sata_sil24.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_SATA_DWC)		+= sata_dwc_460ex.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_SATA_HIGHBANK)	+= sata_highbank.o libahci.o
drivers/ata/sata_inic162x.c deleted +0 -903

903 lines not on this page · raw message

Signature · 1 line
2.43.0
maintainer Reviewed-by on v1 1/1
#1 lore raw
Quoted 10 lines · Ethan Nelson-Moore

The sata_inic162x driver was labeled as "very experimental" in commit bb9696192826 ("libata: make it clear that sata_inic162x is experimental") due to data corruption issues, but not marked as broken. Since then, no changes have been made to it that could fix these issues. Since the driver was not marked as broken, and the message about potential data corruption is only visible in the code and dmesg, it is possible that someone could enable the driver without realizing its potential for data corruption. Remove the driver to protect users' data.

Quoted 3 lines
Fixes 1fd7a697a37b ("sata_inic162x: finally, driver for initio 162x SATA controllers, take #2")

The normal approach would be to first deprecate the driver, and then remove it (some time later, generally one year). But given the broken nature of this driver, and since there was no fixes (beside cosmetic/API changes) since 2013 when the warning was added, I have no problem with outright removing it. So:

Signature · 2 lines
Damien Le Moal
Western Digital Research
maintainer Applied
#2 lore raw
In reply to Ethan Nelson-Moore
Quoted 11 lines · Ethan Nelson-Moore

The sata_inic162x driver was labeled as "very experimental" in commit bb9696192826 ("libata: make it clear that sata_inic162x is experimental") due to data corruption issues, but not marked as broken. Since then, no changes have been made to it that could fix these issues. Since the driver was not marked as broken, and the message about potential data corruption is only visible in the code and dmesg, it is possible that someone could enable the driver without realizing its potential for data corruption. Remove the driver to protect users' data.

[...]

Applied to libata/linux.git (for-7.4), thanks!

[1/1] ata: sata_inic162x: remove dangerous broken driver

      https://git.kernel.org/libata/linux/c/96fdeb7e

Kind regards,
Niklas