Re: [PATCH-for-9.1 v2 19/21] hw/i386/pc: Remove 2.3 and deprecate 2.4 to 2.7 pc-i440fx machines

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

Hi Zhao,

On 28/3/24 04:44, Zhao Liu wrote:
> Hi Philippe,
> 
> On Wed, Mar 27, 2024 at 10:51:21AM +0100, Philippe Mathieu-Daudé wrote:
>> Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2024 10:51:21 +0100
>> From: Philippe Mathieu-Daudé <philmd@linaro.org>
>> Subject: [PATCH-for-9.1 v2 19/21] hw/i386/pc: Remove 2.3 and deprecate 2.4
>>   to 2.7 pc-i440fx machines
>> X-Mailer: git-send-email 2.41.0
>>
>> The pc-i440fx-2.3 machine was deprecated for the 8.2
>> release (see commit c7437f0ddb "docs/about: Mark the
>> old pc-i440fx-2.0 - 2.3 machine types as deprecated"),
>> time to remove it. Similarly to the cited commit,
>> deprecate the 2.4 to 2.7 machines.
> 
> I suggest split the deprecation of 2.4-2.7 in another patch.

Thomas suggested to do it in the same commit to avoid churn
in documentation:
https://lore.kernel.org/qemu-devel/2a01baa6-b6a3-4572-94cd-63b2eaab7b38@redhat.com/

> And when a old machine is marked as deprecated, is it necessary to
> set "deprecation_reason" as commit c7437f0ddb?

Indeed you are right, I forgot that.

> I tend to set that field since boards.h said:
> 
> /**
>   * MachineClass:
>   * @deprecation_reason: If set, the machine is marked as deprecated. The
>   *    string should provide some clear information about what to use instead.
>   *...
>   */
> 
> And that field would be printed when user boots the machine.
> 
> Additionally, could we define rules for deprecating old machines?
> For example, if it's more than 8 years old (as commit c7437f0ddb) or
> after how many releases, the old machine can be considered for
> deprecation.

Daniel recently (last 2 months) replied to a thread with a
coherent rule set, but I can't find it.

Older post:
https://lore.kernel.org/qemu-devel/YeXNoKzsFeIPSy6E@redhat.com/

> Thanks,
> Zhao
>