From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from elvis.franken.de (elvis.franken.de [193.175.24.41]) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5181A284880; Mon, 12 Jan 2026 23:50:18 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=193.175.24.41 ARC-Seal:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1768261823; cv=none; b=LIeykvq4udoqtGXK+V/qCPUFTvj1OEKx3Q3VaH5ZBXiFNUBggeKo/qaaGtWSk+6Ki4NhKI/LFXnkm3Py6Xv4+o2bYO9txk0wjhRWgU+4DaNYjHSeqKcCxzTf4fODbkfWTFH+Q0TgTMJk3aEuMuT3fHN3S2HHEmYHctQy946ppEY= ARC-Message-Signature:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1768261823; c=relaxed/simple; bh=CyjhGPbOwqxuAQzxV+Lja9SyFNFJ71LWX49/T8QSXq8=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:Message-ID:References:MIME-Version: Content-Type:Content-Disposition:In-Reply-To; b=kOWWl3X9COJFt1vpqIpn/bBWy4m1f3BCVpBRGBZfNCckgkLQ9fS1kNZGc7IRt7azinPPaDWF61HTPt+fhFx7K2dI4ttFxIdXOKMnKx6hr7k8EaYo9iBqVQqM9wLnB5KSCq5saN/Hpuf92Ju8Z33hawmbmjceDYcBL+K3MvfdHoA= ARC-Authentication-Results:i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dmarc=none (p=none dis=none) header.from=alpha.franken.de; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=alpha.franken.de; arc=none smtp.client-ip=193.175.24.41 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dmarc=none (p=none dis=none) header.from=alpha.franken.de Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=alpha.franken.de Received: from uucp by elvis.franken.de with local-rmail (Exim 3.36 #1) id 1vfQmH-0006Lj-00; Mon, 12 Jan 2026 23:52:49 +0100 Received: by alpha.franken.de (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 6CD93C0113; Mon, 12 Jan 2026 23:09:05 +0100 (CET) Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2026 23:09:05 +0100 From: Thomas Bogendoerfer To: "Maciej W. Rozycki" Cc: Simon Horman , Ethan Nelson-Moore , linux-mips@vger.kernel.org, netdev@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [PATCH net-next] pcnet32: remove VLB support Message-ID: References: <20260107071831.32895-1-enelsonmoore@gmail.com> <20260109180443.GO345651@kernel.org> Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: netdev@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: On Sun, Jan 11, 2026 at 12:40:56AM +0000, Maciej W. Rozycki wrote: > [+cc Thomas, linux-mips] > > On Fri, 9 Jan 2026, Simon Horman wrote: > > > > This allows the code managing device instances to be simplified > > > significantly. The VLB bus is very obsolete and last appeared on > > > P5 Pentium-era hardware. Support for it has been removed from > > > other drivers, and it is highly unlikely anyone is using it with > > > modern Linux kernels. > > > > > > Signed-off-by: Ethan Nelson-Moore > > > > Hi Ethan, > > > > I don't think this driver has received much attention for some time. > > So, unless you have hardware to test changes on, I would suggest > > either leaving it alone or, if we suspect there are no users, > > removing it. > > You mean discarding the whole of drivers/net/ethernet/amd/pcnet32.c? If > so, then it's a hard NAK from me. It's the onboard/netboot interface of > the MIPS Malta platform and it continues being used regularly, primarily > with QEMU setups, although I have actual Malta hardware in my lab too, > usually running 24/7. It's one of the primary MIPS plaforms, cf. > arch/mips/configs/malta_defconfig. I have a few more MIPS systems with PCnet32 chip on board. And this driver was the first network driver for VMware. I see no reason to remove it as it simply works. Thomas. -- Crap can work. Given enough thrust pigs will fly, but it's not necessarily a good idea. [ RFC1925, 2.3 ]