Re: Proposal to remove HIPPI support

[Paul Goyette <paul%whooppee.com@localhost>]

On Mon, 13 Jan 2020, Jason Thorpe wrote:

> Hey folks --
>
> I am proposing that we remove support for HIPPI.  For those not
> familiar, HIPPI (High Performance Parallel Interface) is/was an
> interconnect typically used in supercomputer systems, originally for
> connecting to storage systems, but also used to connect to other
> computer systems ... back in the day (mid-to-late-90s), it was pretty
> impressive -- 800Mb/s.  It was originally a parallel copper
> interconnect, but was later available over fiber.
>
> Kevin Lahey wrote our HIPPI support code along with a driver for the
> Essential Communications "RoadRunner" HIPPI interface, and we used it
> on DEC Alphas back when we worked at NASA.  Unfortunately, this code
> is not MP-safe, and it's a near certainty that no one has equipment
> (nor motivation -- Gig-E is faster) to test updates to this code.
>
> Code in question:
>
> net/if_hippi.h
> net/if_hippisubr.c
>
> dev/ic/rrunner.c
> dev/ic/rrunnerreg.h
> dev/ic/rrunnervar.h
>
> dev/pci/if_esh_pci.c
>
> While this code has a special place in my heart, it seems like a good 
> time to put this stuff out to pasture.  Are there any objections?

Hehe!  I remember having to support IP-over-HIPPI when I worked at
Ascend (before they got bought out by Lucent).  What a nightmare it
was!

I am all in favor of removing this code.


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