Re: [PATCH-for-9.1] target/nios2: Remove machines and system emulation

["Philippe Mathieu-Daudé" <philmd@linaro.org>]

On 27/3/24 14:19, Thomas Huth wrote:
> On 27/03/2024 13.45, Philippe Mathieu-Daudé wrote:
>> On 27/3/24 13:35, Philippe Mathieu-Daudé wrote:
>>> Remove the Nios II machines and the system emulation code
>>> (deprecated since v8.2 in commit 9997771bc1 "target/nios2:
>>> Deprecate the Nios II architecture").
> 
> Please remind me, why didn't we deprecate the linux-user emulation, too?

Hmm I think we actually did (overall target), since there is
an issue with signals.

>>> diff --git a/hw/nios2/Kconfig b/hw/nios2/Kconfig
>>> deleted file mode 100644
>>> index 4748ae27b6..0000000000
>>> --- a/hw/nios2/Kconfig
>>> +++ /dev/null
>>> @@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
>>> -config NIOS2_10M50
>>> -    bool
>>> -    select NIOS2
>>> -    select SERIAL
>>> -    select ALTERA_TIMER
>>
>> I forgot to mention I deliberately chose to keep the Altera
>> timer model in the tree, since it looks like a re-usable
>> IP component.
> 
> But if it is not used anymore by any machine, this will happily bitrot, 
> won't it? I think I'd rather remove it, too ... maybe in a separate 
> patch, so that in case somebody later needs it again, it can be restored 
> by simply reverting the patch again.

It is related to dynamic machines, how do we decide what components
to remove once there? I suppose we'd need to deprecate every single
component, like ALTERA_TIMER. But we are not yet generating dynamic
machines, so for now we can consider ALTERA_TIMER part of Nios II
sysemu removal. I like your idea of removing it as a separate patch.