HAL Removal
Summary
HAL is a behemoth, do-it-all, daemon to access hardware. It is now obsoleted by udisks (né DeviceKit-disks) and upower (né DeviceKit-power), as well as libudev for device discovery.
This feature tracks the removal of HAL in the Fedora Desktop spin.
See also:
Owner
- Name: Bastien Nocera
- email: bnocera@redhat.com
- Name: Nicola Soranzo
- email: nsoranzo at fedoraproject.org
Current status
- Targeted release: Fedora 42
- Last updated: 2011-02-08
- Percentage of completion: 85%
Detailed Description
To generate the list of packages still depending on hal in rawhide:
$ repoquery --repofrompath=fedora-rawhide,http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/x86_64/os/ --repoid=fedora-rawhide --qf '%{NAME}' --whatrequires hal hal-info hal-libs hal-storage-addon | sort -u
Packages in the Desktop spin
| Package name | Status | Bug reports or discussions |
|---|---|---|
| abrt-gui | done | |
| cheese | done | |
| evolution | done | |
| evolution-data-server | done | |
| gdm | done | |
| gnome-power-manager | done | |
| gnome-vfs2 | TODO | gnome-vfs2 has been deprecated since 2008, applications should use gvfs instead. Packages depending directly on gnome-vfs2: gnome-python2-gnome |
| gstreamer-plugins-good | done | |
| gvfs | done | |
| gvfs-obexftp | done | |
| libfprint | done | Still requires hal-filesystem |
| libgpod | done | |
| libmtp | done | libmtp-hal leaf subpackage requires hal-info |
| orca | TODO | Requires gnome-python2-gnome and gnome-python2-bonobo, upstream bug 626254 |
| pm-utils | done | |
| rhythmbox | done | |
| setroubleshoot | done | |
| shotwell | done | |
| smolt | done | |
| system-setup-keyboard | done | |
| xorg-x11-server-Xorg | done | |
| xulrunner | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2, upstream bug 494163 |
Other packages in the DVD
| Package name | Status | Bug reports or discussions |
|---|---|---|
| amarok | TODO | Requires libmtp-hal |
| blueman | TODO | Fedora bug 561019 |
| dasher | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2, |
| dia | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2, |
| gimp | TODO | upstream bug 592364 |
| glade3-libgladeui | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2 |
| gnome-pilot | TODO | done in upstream git, |
| hplip | done? | upstream bug 401091 |
| inkscape | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2, upstream bug 715215, Fedora bug 653516 |
| k3b | done | |
| kdebase-runtime | done | |
| kdelibs | done | |
| libvirt | done | |
| pcsc-lite | TODO | Requires hal-libs, Debian bug 587979 |
| planner | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2, done in upstream git, and libgnome |
| thunderbird | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2 |
| xine-lib | done |
Other packages outside the DVD
| Package name | Status | Bug reports or discussions |
|---|---|---|
| beldi | TODO | |
| camcardsync | TODO | |
| eclipse | done | |
| epiphany | done | |
| exaile | TODO | upstream bug 625209 |
| exo | done | |
| gnomad2 | TODO | Fedora bug 677323 |
| gnome-commander | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2-smb, upstream bug 589069 |
| gnome-device-manager | TODO | |
| gparted | done | |
| gxine | done | |
| halevt | TODO | |
| ifuse | done | |
| libconcord | TODO | |
| librapi | TODO | Both librapi and python-rapi subpackages |
| libsynce | TODO | |
| lxsession | TODO | |
| matahari | TODO | Fedora bug 677367 |
| nut | TODO | |
| odccm | TODO | |
| ohm | TODO | |
| ovirt-server | TODO | ovirt-server-installer subpackage requires hal |
| oxine | TODO | |
| pcmanfm | TODO | Requires hal-storage-addon |
| pmount | TODO | |
| razertool | TODO | |
| synce-hal | TODO | |
| synce-trayicon | TODO | |
| Thunar | done | |
| thunar-volman | done | |
| thunar-vfs | TODO | |
| xfburn | TODO | |
| xfce4-cddrive-plugin | TODO | |
| xfce4-power-manager | done | |
| xfce4-volstatus-icon | done | Orphaned since Fedora 15 |
Benefit to Fedora
Faster boot-up, and removal of obsoleted technology.
Scope
Loads of applications require HAL itself, or libhal. Applications should not rely on HAL, or libhal being available.
How To Test
Need to test:
- yum remove hal-filesystem hal-libs
- Check that nothing gets removed because it depends on hal
- Check that applications that access hardware still work as before
User Experience
- Faster boot-up
- Possibly faster applications startup when switching from libhal to libgudev for device enumeration
Dependencies
- See description
Contingency Plan
- Still ship HAL.
Documentation
N/A
Release Notes
- Fedora now does not ship with the HAL daemon, and libhal by default. If a specific application require libhal to function, please file a bug against it to be ported to the new technology.