[ltp] Request For Assistance with tpctl

[Thomas Hood]

As some of you know, I am the author of the tpctl utility and of the
"thinkpad" modules that go with it.  I wrote the utility almost six
years ago and I have continued to update it since then.  I am also the
maintainer of the Debian packages (thinkpad-base, thinkpad-source,
tpctl).

The latest release of the "thinkpad" drivers, version 5.8, works with
kernels up to 2.6.8.  The thinkpadpm driver does not work under 2.6.9
and higher because it uses functions (put_cpu_ptr, get_cpu_ptr) that
have been removed.  I guess I could either drop thinkpadpm or fix the
problem by syncing the code with the new apm driver.  However, building
against 2.6.10 produces warnings in the thinkpad module.

    `inter_module_put' is deprecated (declared at
     include/linux/module.h:582)

This means that the drivers will need more work soon.

The drivers really require rewriting to the new driver model and, even
better, integrating into the stock Linux tree.  E.g., thinkpadpm should
be integrated with the apm driver; superio should probably be integrated
with Linux's standard drivers for Super I/O chips; rtcmosram should
probably be integrated with the rtc driver; smapi should probably be
integrated with the part of the mwave driver that talks to SMAPI.

I am writing because I don't find within myself the necessary motivation
to do this.  My free software hacking time is being spent on other
things these days.

I am hoping that there is someone out there who is willing to take over
development of the thinkpad and tpctl packages.  I could continue to
maintain the Debian packages of these.  The ideal candidate would be
someone with experience in Linux driver programming who has the personal
contacts required to get patches applied.  It is not the programming
work that I find daunting; it is the organisational and political work
that would be required to get the code accepted.

If people want to supply patches to fix build problems with the latest
kernels then that is OK too.  If more than one person is interested then
I'd be happy to put the code in cvs or svn somewhere.
-- 
Thomas Hood <jdthood@yahoo.co.uk>