Old platforms: bring out your dead

[Alexander Sverdlin]

Hello Arnd,

On 11/01/2021 10:31, Arnd Bergmann wrote:
>>> * axxia -- added in 2014, no notable changes after 2015
>> This one is still widely used there is a chance you are using it too when
>> traveling in Asia or USA :)
> I know this one has a large installed base, and that Intel were at
> least working on it for a while after upstream contributions stopped.
> 
> However, my impression was that the port was never completed
> upstream before the acquisition, and that the new owners had no
> interest in working with us. In particular, none of the later Axxia
> SoCs (ppc32/axe3500, arm64/axm5600, arm64/axc6700) ever got
> submitted for inclusion as far as I can tell.
> 
> The latest public source code I found is at https://github.com/axxia/,
> but this is a heavily patched linux-4.9, see
> https://github.com/axxia/axxia_yocto_linux_4.9/commits/fa03c456641
> 
> My interpretation of this was that whoever is using Axxia chips
> is no longer interested in upgrading to newer kernels or using
> anything remotely resembling the code we have uptream.

we indeed upgrade to the latest kernels but yes, we have to forward-port
LSI/Intel's code again and again.

And while AXM55xx is ugly hardware in itself where we need to patch a lot,
64-bit variants are working out of the box with vanilla kernel actually.

We by no means want this platform to be thrown away, so let us work a
road map out.

I'll assess what the situation is with AXM55xx, AXM56xx and AXC67 (which from my PoV
is no different from AXM56xx) and share my ideas.

I'm of course not in the position to submit patches you found in their
github account, but maybe there is another solution. 

-- 
Best regards,
Alexander Sverdlin.