Re: Deprecate the ppc405 boards in QEMU? (was: [PATCH v3 4/7] MAINTAINERS: Orphan obscure ppc platforms)

[Daniel P . Berrangé]

On Tue, Oct 05, 2021 at 06:15:35PM +0200, Philippe Mathieu-Daudé wrote:
> On 10/5/21 10:49, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> > On Tue, Oct 05, 2021 at 06:44:23AM +0200, Christophe Leroy wrote:
> 
> >> I will look at it, please allow me a few weeks though.
> > 
> > Once something is deprecated, it remains in QEMU for a minimum of two
> > release cycles, before being deleted. At any time in that deprecation
> > period it can be returned to supported status, if someone provides a
> > good enough justification to keep it.
> 
> My understanding is once being in deprecated state for 2 releases, it
> can be removed, but it doesn't have to be removed (assuming it is
> functional and nobody complains). Am I incorrect?

It should be removed after 2 releases. Things live longer because
people forget or are busy with other things, but ultimately anything
in the deprecated list is liable to be deleted at any point after
the 2 release minimum is up.

If we change our minds about deleting something, then it should
be un-deprecated.

> I am raising this because the nanoMIPS support is in deprecated state
> since more than 2 releases, but it is still in-tree and I try to keep
> it functional. However, since no toolchain reached mainstream GCC/LLVM
> it is not easy to maintain. By keeping it in that state we give some
> time to other communities to have their toolchain upstreamed / merged.

If you're trying to keep it functional and aren't going to remove
it, then it shouldn't be marked deprecated.



Regards,
Daniel
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