Xfce and HAL - what is the future?

[Bela Markus]

Hi,

Xfce4 depends on HAL on several ways. It is a dependency for Thunar, 
used as an alternative way to shutdown the system and also required by 
plugins for example to detect removable media.

It looks like HAL development is stopped and project is dead, see 
message on the project page:

"HAL is in maintenance mode - no new features are added. All future 
development focuses on Software/DeviceKit-disks, 
Software/DeviceKit-power, NetworkManager, PulseAudio, udev, ... "

Most of its functionality can be replaced by new solutions, like udev

Porting 4.6.2 to Tiny Core most of the time I spent was to port HAL and 
get it up and running while Xfce4 itself went smooth. HAL is still is a 
pain regarding maintenance, so I would be happy to throw it away and 
keep Xfce4 for example with a HAL free Thunar and an udev based volume 
manager.

What is about future Xfce releases and HAL?

Regards

Béla