[PATCH 06/13] ARM: ep93xx: mark most board files as unused

[Arnd Bergmann]

On Fri, Jul 22, 2022 at 1:04 PM Lukasz Majewski <lukma at denx.de> wrote:
> > On Fri, Jul 22, 2022 at 10:04 AM Lukasz Majewski <lukma at denx.de> wrote:
> > > > From: Arnd Bergmann <arnd at arndb.de>
>
> Last time it was from 2.6.2X to 4.14 LTS ...

Ok.

> > I think Nikita's DT conversion for ts7250 (see [1]) shouldn't
> > be too hard to port from 5.11 to 5.20+, as most of the patches just
> > introduce driver support. The multiplatform conversion in 5.19
> > hopefully made things a bit easier but likely also requires a few
> > extra changes.
>
> I could easily get updated the customer's board to the DT if at least
> one ep93xx is in tree (as it is based on TS7250).

Both the ts7250/bk3 and the edb93xx variants are going to stay
for the moment, based on the feedback I got from Alexander and
Nikita, so this part is fine.

> However, I cannot predict when the new BSP (with new Kernel) will be
> required ....

I see that 4.14-lts will stop getting updates in early 2024, so I guess
this is the latest point to upgrade in order to still receive security fixes
(assuming that you actually update the production kernel periodically
for updated 4.14.y releases).

This still gives us the choice between two approaches that let us
retire the ep93xx board files in 2024:

a) do the DT conversion over the next 18 months (hopefully
    quicker) and let you update to that when the 4.14 release
    ends, with the option of further updates later.

b) do nothing until the LTS release in late 2023 and retire
   all of ep93xx in early 2024, leaving users with LTS  kernel
   fixes until at least 2027 (depending on how long this release
   gets maintained).

If everyone is fine with the limitations of b), that is obviously
the easier path, otherwise a) should not be that hard either.

       Arnd