Linux kernel Nixes IDE support in the latest 5.14 release candidate
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Linux founder Linus Torvalds recently Linux kernel mailing list Announcing the arrival of Linux kernel version 5.14. Perhaps the biggest change is the removal of traditional support for Parallel ATA (PATA) (also known as ATAm or IDE).
IDE is a kind of connector that has been the basis of IBM computers for a long time, and later became a PC. It is a connector used to connect hard drives, floppy drives and optical drives in computers. With the advent of more advanced protocols, IDE has become irrelevant to most PC manufacturers in recent years and has been replaced by SATA connectors in modern PCs.
With the continuous advancement of the Linux kernel, the code to support legacy devices has become more and more difficult, and the demand has become less and less. This is why the Linux kernel officially gave up support and deleted the IDE code from its repository.
From now on, all IDE support will be based on libATA, a library used to provide support for ATA host controllers and devices. This change will move from kernel support to libraries that are implemented only when needed.
According to Torvalds, the removal of the IDE from the Linux kernel is overdue. “It’s not very common that there are a lot of lines _removals_. The old IDE layer finally ushered in the moment when it should have died. All our IDE support is now based on libata,” Mr. Torvals said, continuing, “Of course, we delete The fact that we have all the legacy IDE code does not mean that we have reduced the number of lines overall: tens of thousands of lines of legacy code are far from enough to balance the usual kernel growth. But it is still a good thing to see the cleanup.
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