Why is HAL being made the default when it's not ready?

[Dave M G]

Derek, Mario,

Thank you for responding.

Derek said:
> The new hal _settings_, not hal as such.  Hal has been around a long time,
> but hal hasn't been handling _your_ little bit of hardware.
I get that HAL has been around, and that it's only particular settings 
that have changed... but so what? That distinction is mere semantics.

Let me state it more accurately, then: The new HAL *settings* have made 
Wacom tablets a pain in the ass.

Mario said:
> The OP got it wrong, it's not about HAL but about input device
> autodetection in Xorg 1.5 (which uses HAL). Info and a link to complete
> discussion about the issue here in the release notes:
> <http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/810#Limited%20support%
> 20for%20Wacom%20tablet%20hotplugging>
The "OP" is fully aware of the situation, and so far this seems to be a 
case of not getting any technical help, but instead getting apologist 
explanations for things that don't work.

Yes, I have seen all the bug reports and the release notes. They say 
that "Users of tablet devices who wish to use other input features will 
need to statically configure their input devices in /etc/X11/xorg.conf". 
Crazy me, I thought that meant I could configure xorg.conf and have 
tablet functionality. The same level of acceptable functionality I've 
had for about 2 years with previous Ubuntu builds.

As it turns out, though, any editing of xorg.conf, following the 
directions provided, only ends up with crashing X so that I can't log in.

So my original question stands - when is HAL going to be made to 
actually work, or, failing that, are alternate options available?

-- 
Dave M G