From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

Too many armchair detectives are using AI and fuzzers to find alleged
bugs in Linux driver support for old hardware that hardly anyone uses
any more. This means the pool of available people to actually test
those reports to confirm that they’re not complete hallucinations is correspondingly small. So they cannot really be expected to follow up
all these reports, let alone fix the legitimate ones.

As a result, the Linux development community has decided that, to
maintain its sanity, they have to start dropping those old drivers
completely from the mainline kernel.

<https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/linux-may-be-ending-support-for-older-network-drivers-due-to-influx-of-false-ai-generated-bug-reports-maintenance-has-become-too-burdensome-for-old-largely-unused-systems>
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 4/22/26 19:55, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

Too many armchair detectives are using AI and fuzzers to find alleged
bugs in Linux driver support for old hardware that hardly anyone uses
any more. This means the pool of available people to actually test
those reports to confirm that they’re not complete hallucinations is correspondingly small. So they cannot really be expected to follow up
all these reports, let alone fix the legitimate ones.

As a result, the Linux development community has decided that, to
maintain its sanity, they have to start dropping those old drivers
completely from the mainline kernel.

<https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/linux-may-be-ending-support-for-older-network-drivers-due-to-influx-of-false-ai-generated-bug-reports-maintenance-has-become-too-burdensome-for-old-largely-unused-systems>

Hmmm ...

Well, IF distro makers keep them around, installed
by users as-needed .....

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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

Am 23.04.26 um 01:55 schrieb Lawrence D’Oliveiro:

Too many armchair detectives are using AI and fuzzers to find alleged
bugs in Linux driver support for old hardware that hardly anyone uses
any more. This means the pool of available people to actually test
those reports to confirm that they’re not complete hallucinations is correspondingly small. So they cannot really be expected to follow up
all these reports, let alone fix the legitimate ones.

As a result, the Linux development community has decided that, to
maintain its sanity, they have to start dropping those old drivers
completely from the mainline kernel.

The issue is not that AI found bugs (or reported that, I do not know if
those issues are real), but that the driver is unmaintained. I can
understand that such software will be removed.

Although, there needs to be someone who tests and develops the driver.
That is still possible for PCI cards, but ISA or PCMCIA will be harder.
--
Gruß
Marco
Muell und Spam bitte an [email protected]
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

Marco Moock <[email protected]> writes:

Am 23.04.26 um 01:55 schrieb Lawrence D’Oliveiro:

Too many armchair detectives are using AI and fuzzers to find alleged
bugs in Linux driver support for old hardware that hardly anyone uses
any more. This means the pool of available people to actually test
those reports to confirm that they’re not complete hallucinations is
correspondingly small. So they cannot really be expected to follow up
all these reports, let alone fix the legitimate ones.
As a result, the Linux development community has decided that, to
maintain its sanity, they have to start dropping those old drivers
completely from the mainline kernel.

The issue is not that AI found bugs (or reported that, I do not know
if those issues are real), but that the driver is unmaintained. I can understand that such software will be removed.

There’s a bit more nuance to it than that. Under-supported components of
a system get removed when the perceived cost of keeping (triaging and
fixing bugs) them exceeds the benefits (e.g. end users keep using their
network cards).

If the increase in costs corresponds to genuine bug reports then fair
enough, but if it’s gippity nonsense then what has happened is a denial-of-service attack by the armchair detectives on the kernel
development community.
--
https://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

c186282 <[email protected]> wrote:

On 4/22/26 19:55, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

As a result, the Linux development community has decided that, to
maintain its sanity, they have to start dropping those old drivers
completely from the mainline kernel.

<https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/linux-may-be-ending-support-for-older-network-drivers-due-to-influx-of-false-ai-generated-bug-reports-maintenance-has-become-too-burdensome-for-old-largely-unused-systems>

Hmmm ...

Well, IF distro makers keep them around, installed
by users as-needed .....

Once they're out of the kernel code, they can't be built as
optional modules for distro packages either, unless they're
reworked to build separately or patched back into the kernel.
--
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

Lawrence D'Oliveiro <[email protected]d> wrote:

As a result, the Linux development community has decided that, to
maintain its sanity, they have to start dropping those old drivers
completely from the mainline kernel.

<https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/linux-may-be-ending-support-for-older-network-drivers-due-to-influx-of-false-ai-generated-bug-reports-maintenance-has-become-too-burdensome-for-old-largely-unused-systems>

Yikes, and I see as well as network drivers they're starting the
process of dropping PCMCIA support:

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.1-Drops-Old-PCMCIA-Code

I always considered installing Linux on brand new systems a bit
dodgy with drivers often still having bugs ironed out, but since I
personally use ancient tech I can assume everything will just work.
Indeed the older the better since with hardware made before the mid
2000s you don't have headaches with needing huge firmware packages
and the clunky way drivers can fail without them.

I've mainly avoided the BSDs for fear of driver issues, even while
the adoption of Systemd and Wayland by most Linux distros has been
making them more attractive. It looks like the balance might be
tipping in their favour now for me.
--
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 24 Apr 2026 08:35:51 +1000, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

Lawrence D'Oliveiro <[email protected]d> wrote:

As a result, the Linux development community has decided that, to
maintain its sanity, they have to start dropping those old drivers
completely from the mainline kernel.

<https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/linux-may-be-ending- support-for-older-network-drivers-due-to-influx-of-false-ai-generated-bug- reports-maintenance-has-become-too-burdensome-for-old-largely-unused-

systems>

Yikes, and I see as well as network drivers they're starting the process
of dropping PCMCIA support:

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.1-Drops-Old-PCMCIA-Code

I have a laptop that uses PCMCIA -- a 1995 Compaq Concerto

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_Concerto

I don't think there is any danger of installing Linux on it.
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 23/04/2026 23:35, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

I always considered installing Linux on brand new systems a bit
dodgy with drivers often still having bugs ironed out, but since I
personally use ancient tech I can assume everything will just work.
Indeed the older the better since with hardware made before the mid
2000s you don't have headaches with needing huge firmware packages
and the clunky way drivers can fail without them.

I think in these cases it becomes a case of 'if running well, leave
'well' alone'...

There is simply a trade off between stability and support.
--
The lifetime of any political organisation is about three years before
its been subverted by the people it tried to warn you about.

Anon.

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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

rbowman <[email protected]> wrote:

On 24 Apr 2026 08:35:51 +1000, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

Lawrence D'Oliveiro <[email protected]d> wrote:

As a result, the Linux development community has decided that, to
maintain its sanity, they have to start dropping those old drivers
completely from the mainline kernel.

<https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/linux-may-be-ending-

support-for-older-network-drivers-due-to-influx-of-false-ai-generated-bug- reports-maintenance-has-become-too-burdensome-for-old-largely-unused- systems>

Yikes, and I see as well as network drivers they're starting the process
of dropping PCMCIA support:

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.1-Drops-Old-PCMCIA-Code

I have a laptop that uses PCMCIA -- a 1995 Compaq Concerto

At the linked page the proponent says themselves "PCMCIA is almost
completely obsolete (the last computers supporting it natively were
from ~2009)". The late 2000s laptop I run Devuan on has PCMCIA. The
early 2000s laptop I'm posting from now has PCMCIA too, though I
don't try to run a current Linux distro on it anymore. I've got a
stack of PCMCIA cards within reach and they can still be purchased
new. The ethernet card in the stack is a Xircom one which I just
confirmed uses the xirc2ps driver proposed for removal at the link
in the Tom's Hardware post. If 2009 is too old for the Linux devs
then Linux isn't for me anymore. Stuff 'em, I liked Linux because I
didn't need to worry about this sort of thing. The BSDs have the
same price tag so it's time to check them out.
--
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