From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from smtp.kernel.org (aws-us-west-2-korg-mail-1.web.codeaurora.org [10.30.226.201]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 200E53195F9; Thu, 15 Jan 2026 17:07:13 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=10.30.226.201 ARC-Seal:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1768496833; cv=none; b=gNZaQ3SNxao8Cmm+sl2Ps1Y+G2x/0U8B9XoO86bmx+rH3IgXigDU2jikCHCk4xQj+Xtfwfn0Ld3GG8XZDgj7pTItY3kS5gcgolbtQE0lsQYZeET0wqqg9im6W41vtHUrhWvYOOygvuGGgR+AyGzhqQKITY8PIn6LPtVNmYAUcVA= ARC-Message-Signature:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1768496833; c=relaxed/simple; bh=/aw7GfMERdmsHUNFNCeK6HNG4sQzWmjkXp2ilRMVj+Y=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:Message-ID:References:MIME-Version: Content-Type:Content-Disposition:In-Reply-To; b=al9n/o6EttVHRV+bZpYloif6Uhi7b33gm97Zlilq7//4uaVlskNioSSibMqUghyaMdkKVcW/8lf0tg70jkoAOXsiwoNblHKu8BMaqerdvncLnj+3rfXB4LrgDz4umiNOIcZeS/NbJEnI9h6tUodxl91sejSTEm4+DW3P5KJ5xtI= ARC-Authentication-Results:i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b=BYom4D7c; arc=none smtp.client-ip=10.30.226.201 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b="BYom4D7c" Received: by smtp.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id BD6AFC16AAE; Thu, 15 Jan 2026 17:07:11 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=kernel.org; s=k20201202; t=1768496832; bh=/aw7GfMERdmsHUNFNCeK6HNG4sQzWmjkXp2ilRMVj+Y=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:References:In-Reply-To:From; b=BYom4D7cU/fM8xqNhFAhtyv/PAUmyyd46rS9pk290NOnn0J8dPNEu8HJz/de7QrFh Cv/uM6vD0XVyelut9eC6i6BrjleoREyp2158NcbSq9vtjtr4/FoGpZMux95PPDGw2m CAlqDTupPhli4bAhqKaOrfwqI9As10GnrY8ZL50EvdGowcrkcLGmTAVEVcotVDLtCe 1HbAJIND4dn6mEG9zlfOAy3m133o0aZlsmSbPJqeXUuYOSI0jc4zG8DjxDAjgSOLHq FCiK58G5Lg/qcwhZxOFv/Ce74W1EumV9HEyPuBpmzufxdQqEWdopy2sbaCfDzHqVHk nBQisuQRoSeYA== Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2026 17:07:09 +0000 From: Simon Horman To: "Maciej W. Rozycki" Cc: Thomas Bogendoerfer , 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. Thanks, that is valuable feedback. I'm certainly not advocating removing drivers that have an active user-base. > > No attention means the driver just works, why wouldn't it? It's no > rocket science. FWIW I continue using several drivers that saw little to > no change recently across various platforms. Interesting. Subjectively, I'd say that Networking drivers it can be a sign that the devices aren't being used in the wild. But clearly that signal was incorrect in this case. > As to VLB support, I guess nobody cares nowadays. I used to have such a > system, but haven't seen one in some three decades now and never used this > driver with one. That is also valuable feedback, thanks.