From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG  Thu Mar 11 12:40:14 2010
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A4D2C106564A
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:40:14 +0000 (UTC)
	(envelope-from freebsd-questions@m.gmane.org)
Received: from lo.gmane.org (lo.gmane.org [80.91.229.12])
	by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5CBAC8FC17
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:40:14 +0000 (UTC)
Received: from list by lo.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.69)
	(envelope-from <freebsd-questions@m.gmane.org>) id 1NphgR-00015B-Bj
	for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:40:11 +0100
Received: from lara.cc.fer.hr ([161.53.72.113])
	by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian))
	id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>; Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:40:11 +0100
Received: from ivoras by lara.cc.fer.hr with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian))
	id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>; Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:40:11 +0100
X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/
To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
From: Ivan Voras <ivoras@freebsd.org>
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:40:06 +0100
Lines: 16
Message-ID: <hnaoav$hje$1@dough.gmane.org>
References: <20100311063623.5f7089eb@scorpio.seibercom.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org
X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: lara.cc.fer.hr
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD amd64; en-US;
	rv:1.9.1.5) Gecko/20100118 Thunderbird/3.0
In-Reply-To: <20100311063623.5f7089eb@scorpio.seibercom.net>
Subject: Re: Continued use of "HAL" in FreeBSD
X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5
Precedence: list
List-Id: User questions <freebsd-questions.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:40:14 -0000

On 03/11/10 12:36, Gerard wrote:
> I have read that 'HAL' is now considered depreciated and that it is no
> longer being actively maintained. I have read many articles describing
> its short comings, etc. I even came across this URL:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Halsectomy, while not directly connected to
> FreeBSD, it is interesting.
>
> I was just wondering what the FreeBSD community is doing in regards to
> "HAL"? Is there any work being done to replace it?

As described in the Ubuntu page, FreeBSD has for a long time had 
mechanisms that do what HAL does, in a different way (see e.g. 
/etc/devd.conf). Unfortunately, it is not popular enough for the various 
application developers (from X.Org, Gnome, KDE) to build specific 
support for these. The one quality HAL has is that, while ugly, it was 
available on many platforms.