ITRON API Deprecated for 4.10

[joel.sherrill at OARcorp.com (Joel Sherrill)]

Hi,

The Steering Committee has decided to deprecate
the ITRON 3.0 API implementation in RTEMS in
4.10 and plans to remove it in 4.11.  It is
now disabled by default on the CVS head.

Here are the pertinent facts that lead to this decision.

+ It was implemented as class projects by a graduate
  real-time class Joel taught in 1999.
+ It is incomplete.
+ It is based on ITRON 3.0.  Current revision is at least 4.0.
+ SC didn't recall a PR or question on it.
+ .h files define common some names so when it is enabled,
  it can cause surprising conflicts.

So it is incomplete, out of date, and may have no users. 
The primary positive point we saw is that it is another
example of using the SuperCore to implement an API.

If someone steps forward to update the implementation
to the current revision or sponsor that work, then it
will be kept alive. Being out of date and incomplete are
big negatives.  Not having confirmed users is not as
much an issue because there are lots of very quiet
RTEMS users so we might never know.

Even with all that going against it, RTEMS is by nature
a conservative project. So it will be there for another
release cycle.

If you want the ITRON implementation to live on, please
contribute.  Updating it to the current specification could
be a good senior or class project.

-- 
Joel Sherrill, Ph.D.             Director of Research & Development
joel.sherrill at OARcorp.com        On-Line Applications Research
Ask me about RTEMS: a free RTOS  Huntsville AL 35805
   Support Available             (256) 722-9985