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.
See also:
Owner
- Name: Bastien Nocera
- Email: bnocera@redhat.com
- Name: Nicola Soranzo
- Email: nsoranzo at fedoraproject.org
Current status
- Targeted release: Fedora 16
- Last updated: 2011-04-26
- Percentage of completion: 90%
This feature originally proposed the removal of HAL from the Fedora Desktop spin. This goal has already been accomplished and we are completing the removal from the Fedora DVD. In the meantime, hal package maintainer deprecated it for Fedora 16, and later it was also blocked from composes. So, unless somebody volunteers to maintain it again, this feature will track the complete removal of HAL from the distribution.
Detailed Description
To generate the list of packages still depending on hal in rawhide:
$ repoquery --repofrompath=fedora-rawhide-i386,http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/i386/os/ --repoid=fedora-rawhide-i386 --qf '%{NAME}' --whatrequires hal hal-devel hal-info hal-libs hal-storage-addon | sort -u
Packages in the Desktop spin
| Package name | Status | Bug reports or discussions |
|---|---|---|
| abrt-gui | done | gnome-python2-gnomevfs |
| cheese | done | |
| evolution | done | |
| evolution-data-server | done | |
| gdm | done | |
| gnome-power-manager | done | |
| gnome-vfs2 | done | GnomeVFS has been deprecated since 2008, applications should use gvfs instead. Packages depending directly on |
| gstreamer-plugins-good | done | |
| gvfs | done | |
| gvfs-obexftp | done | |
| hal-info | TODO | Fedora bug 700446 |
| libfprint | done | Still requires hal-filesystem
|
| libgpod | done | |
| libmtp | done | libmtp-hal leaf subpackage still requires hal-info
|
| orca | optional TODO | Requires gnome-python2-gnome, gnome-python2-bonobo (upstream bug 626254) and at-spi-python (Fedora bug 617642)
|
| pm-utils | done | |
| rhythmbox | done | hal-libsgnome-vfs2 |
| setroubleshoot | done | gnome-python2-gnome |
| shotwell | optional TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2 ( |
| smolt | done | |
| system-setup-keyboard | done | |
| xorg-x11-server-Xorg | done | |
| xulrunner | done | gnome-vfs2 |
Other packages in the DVD
| Package name | Status | Bug reports or discussions |
|---|---|---|
| amarok | done | Appears to work fine without libmtp-hal on F15/F16 (which is needed on F14 for some reason)
|
| blueman | optional TODO | Requires halgnome-python2-gnome
|
| eclipse | done | gnome-vfs2 |
| exo | done | |
| gimp | TODO | upstream bug 592364 |
| glade3-libgladeui | done | gnome-vfs2 |
| gnome-pilot | done | |
| hplip | done | upstream bug 401091 |
| k3b | done | |
| kdebase-runtime | done | |
| kdelibs | done | |
| libvirt | done | |
| lxsession | done | |
| pcmanfm | done | |
| pcsc-lite | done | hal-libs |
| planner | optional TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2 (done in upstream git), libgnome, libgnomeui (upstream bug 589045) and libbonoboui ( |
| system-config-httpd | optional TODO | Requires gnome-python2-gnome
|
| Thunar | done | |
| thunar-volman | done | |
| thunderbird | optional TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2
|
| xine-lib | done |
Other packages outside the DVD
| Package name | Status | Bug reports or discussions |
|---|---|---|
| beldi | TODO | Fedora bug 698656 |
| camcardsync | TODO | Fedora bug 698662 |
| dasher | optional TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2 (libgnome, libgnomeui and libbonoboui (upstream bug 571750)
|
| dia | optional TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2 (libgnome, libgnomeui and libbonoboui
|
| epiphany | done | |
| exaile | TODO | upstream bug 625209, Fedora bug 698667 |
| gnomad2 | done | hal-libs and libmtp-hal |
| gnome-commander | optional TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2-smb (upstream bug 589069), gnome-python2-gnomevfs, libgnome (upstream bug 589072), libgnomeui and libbonoboui
|
| gnome-device-manager | TODO | Requires hal-libs (Fedora bug 698685), libgnome, libgnomeui and libbonoboui. Probably dead upstream
|
| gparted | done | |
| gxine | done | |
| halevt | TODO | Fedora bug 700405 |
| ifuse | done | |
| inkscape | optional TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2, upstream bug 715215, Fedora bug 653516
|
| libconcord | done | |
| librapi | TODO | Both librapi and python-rapi subpackages
|
| libsynce | done | |
| matahari | done | |
| nut | done | |
| odccm | TODO | |
| ohm | TODO | Dead upstream, Fedora bug 698964 |
| olpc-kbdshim | TODO | |
| ovirt-server | TODO | ovirt-server-installer subpackage requires hal (Fedora bug 700455)
|
| oxine | TODO | Fedora bug 700758 |
| pmount | done | |
| policycoreutils-gui | optional TODO | Requires gnome-python2-gnome
|
| razertool | TODO | Deprecated since Fedora 15, but not yet removed from composes (Fedora bug 700756) |
| synce-hal | TODO | Needs Fedora bug 678728 |
| synce-trayicon | TODO | Requires hal-libs, gnome-vfs2, libgnome, libgnomeui and libbonoboui
|
| thunar-vfs | done | |
| xchat-gnome | done | gnome-vfs2 |
| xfburn | done | |
| xfce4-cddrive-plugin | TODO | |
| xfce4-power-manager | done | |
| xfce4-volstatus-icon | done | Deprecated 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
- Undeprecate 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.