Scheduling (unused) board file removal for linux-6.x

[Nikita Shubin]

Hello Arnd and Alexander!

On Sun, 3 Jul 2022 18:11:36 +0200
Arnd Bergmann <arnd at kernel.org> wrote:

> On Sun, Jul 3, 2022 at 1:24 PM Alexander Sverdlin
> <alexander.sverdlin at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hello Nikita, Lukasz, Hartley,
> > On Thu, 2022-06-30 at 09:42 +0200, Arnd Bergmann wrote:  
> > > > > ep93xx
> > > > >
> > > > > These are still used, and the platform includes the only
> > > > > remaining two board files that were added after linux-3.0. DT
> > > > > support is probably doable now that common-clk works. Need
> > > > > information about which boards are important.  
> > > >
> > > > I'm still maintaining/able to test CONFIG_MACH_EDB93XX
> > > > (edb93xx.c).  
> > >
> > > Noted, thanks! We'll leave them in for 2023 then.
> > >
> > > Any thoughts on long-term uses for the platform? Do you know of
> > > users of any products other than the reference boards that would
> > > justify doing a DT conversion, or do we just delete the platform
> > > another time?  
> >
> > what are your projections for EP93xx support?
> >
> > I'm personally a bit pessimistic about DT conversion because
> > existing partition tables were already challenged by the kernel
> > growth. It has at least grown +60% with the same config since 2006.
> > This makes me think that 2023 EOL for this SoC might be feasible.  
> 
> I don't think converting the platform to DT will make the space
> problem noticeably
> worse, as the DT infrastructure is already enabled unconditionally
> since the multiplatform enablement. There are probably a few more
> lines that need to be added to parse DT properties in a couple of
> drivers, but removing the board files
> will save a bit as well.
> 
> There is little hope of stopping the general accumulation of code
> bloat through, so any boards that are hitting a size limit are
> probably at the end of their lives
> regardless.
> 
>          Arnd

On the bright side i have a working (bootable with UBIFS rootfs)
dt-based version of ts7250. Did almost a year ago, but unfortunately
got caught by RISC-V bustle, Sorry for github links:

Almost "clean" branch:
https://github.com/maquefel/linux/tree/ep93xx_dt_rework 

Dirty, last known good branch:
https://github.com/maquefel/linux/tree/gpio/devel-ep93xx-rework-v6

But all my users moved from ts7250 usage to other products, so i am
okay if it vanishes from main tree...

I have a dozen of ts7250, even with TS-DIO24, TS-SER4, CAN etc..., if
someone is interested in Device Tree version of ep93xx/ts7250, it's not
a problem for me to finalize the current work on the top of most recent
version, but i can test only on ts7250.

Yours,
Nikita Shubin.