Comment 391 for bug 85488

Mark:
Various USB fixes and workarounds appear to have gone into kernels later than 2.6.20. While recompiling it may have fixed this issue in the past you _may_ find that when using a LiveCD the problem no longer exists in Gutsy. If you can test a Gutsy LiveCD (several people above have said they can't because the CD doesn't boot) then please do so. I will try and retest on this week but time is short (I haven't even retested the Snapscan I said I would yet). The good news is that in Gutsy and later kernels one will be able to turn USB autosuspend off from userland without having to recompile the kernel using the aforementioned steps, which should make workarounds easier to enact.

As for the "ABI breakages"... I suspect there may be a better place to report your unhappiness about this (although I'm not 100% sure I categorise this as an ABI breakage, rather it is a regression) and the current kernel numbering scheme. Few people will see a comment here and as with all comments it is critical that the comment be aired in the right forum if the intent is for it to be acted upon.