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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 announced a plan to deprecate it for Fedora 16, and later it was blocked from composes.
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 40
- 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-i386,http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/i386/os/ --repoid=fedora-rawhide-i386 --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 | gnome-python2-gnomevfs |
| cheese | done | |
| evolution | done | |
| evolution-data-server | done | |
| gdm | done | |
| gnome-power-manager | done | |
| gnome-vfs2 | TODO | GnomeVFS has been deprecated since 2008, applications should use gvfs instead. Packages depending directly on gnome-vfs2:
|
| gstreamer-plugins-good | done | |
| gvfs | done | |
| gvfs-obexftp | done | |
| libfprint | done | Still requires hal-filesystem
|
| libgpod | done | |
| libmtp | done | libmtp-hal leaf subpackage still requires hal-info
|
| orca | 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 | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2 (upstream bug 2987, Fedora bug 690563)
|
| 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 | 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 | TODO | Requires hal-storage-addon, Debian bug 615212
|
| pcsc-lite | done | hal-libs |
| planner | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2 (done in upstream git), libgnome, libgnomeui (upstream bug 589045) and libbonoboui ( |
| system-config-httpd | TODO | Requires gnome-python2-gnome
|
| Thunar | done | |
| thunar-volman | done | |
| thunderbird | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2
|
| xine-lib | done |
Other packages outside the DVD
| Package name | Status | Bug reports or discussions |
|---|---|---|
| beldi | TODO | |
| camcardsync | TODO | |
| dasher | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2 (libgnome, libgnomeui and libbonoboui (upstream bug 571750)
|
| dia | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2 (libgnome, libgnomeui and libbonoboui
|
| epiphany | done | |
| exaile | TODO | upstream bug 625209 |
| gnomad2 | TODO | Requires hal-libs and libmtp-hal (Fedora bug 677323)
|
| gnome-commander | 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, libgnome, libgnomeui and libbonoboui. Probably dead upstream
|
| gparted | done | |
| gxine | done | |
| halevt | TODO | |
| ifuse | done | |
| inkscape | TODO | Requires gnome-vfs2, upstream bug 715215, Fedora bug 653516
|
| libconcord | done | |
| librapi | TODO | Both librapi and python-rapi subpackages
|
| libsynce | TODO | |
| matahari | TODO | Fedora bug 677367 |
| nut | done | |
| odccm | TODO | |
| ohm | TODO | Dead upstream |
| olpc-kbdshim | TODO | |
| ovirt-server | TODO | ovirt-server-installer subpackage requires hal
|
| oxine | TODO | |
| pmount | TODO | |
| policycoreutils-gui | TODO | Requires gnome-python2-gnome
|
| razertool | TODO | |
| synce-hal | TODO | |
| synce-trayicon | TODO | Requires hal-libs, gnome-vfs2, libgnome, libgnomeui and libbonoboui
|
| thunar-vfs | TODO | |
| xchat-gnome | done | gnome-vfs2 |
| xfburn | TODO | |
| 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
- 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.