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.
HAL package maintainer is planning to retire it for Fedora 16.
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 | done | Appears to work fine without libmtp-hal on F15/F16. (libmtp-hal is needed on F14 for some reason.) |
| blueman | done | Fedora bug 561019 |
| dasher | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2, |
| dia | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2, |
| gimp | TODO | upstream bug 592364 |
| glade3-libgladeui | done | |
| 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 | done | Requires hal-libs, |
| planner | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2, done in upstream git, and libgnome |
| thunderbird | done | |
| 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.