Re: [PATCH] system: drop the -old-param option

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

On 28/8/25 18:27, Peter Maydell wrote:
> We deprecated the command line option -old-param for the 10.0
> release, which allows us to drop it in 10.2.  This option was used to
> boot Arm targets with a very old boot protocol using the
> 'param_struct' ABI.  We only ever needed this on a handful of board
> types which have all now been removed from QEMU.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Peter Maydell <peter.maydell@linaro.org>
> ---
>   docs/about/deprecated.rst       | 13 ------
>   docs/about/removed-features.rst | 12 +++++
>   include/system/system.h         |  1 -
>   hw/arm/boot.c                   | 81 +--------------------------------
>   system/globals.c                |  1 -
>   system/vl.c                     |  4 --
>   qemu-options.hx                 |  7 ---
>   7 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 106 deletions(-)


> diff --git a/docs/about/removed-features.rst b/docs/about/removed-features.rst
> index d7c2113fc3e..b1b3d1b1b3f 100644
> --- a/docs/about/removed-features.rst
> +++ b/docs/about/removed-features.rst
> @@ -560,6 +560,18 @@ the options along with the machine models they were intended for.
>   
>   Use ``-run-with user=..`` instead.
>   
> +``-old-param`` option for booting Arm kernels via param_struct (since 10.0)

s/since 10.0/removed in 10.2/

> +'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
> +
> +The ``-old-param`` command line option was specific to Arm targets:
> +it was used when directly booting a guest kernel to pass it the
> +command line and other information via the old ``param_struct`` ABI,
> +rather than the newer ATAGS or DTB mechanisms. This option was only
> +ever needed to support ancient kernels on some old board types
> +like the ``akita`` or ``terrier``; it has been deprecated in the
> +kernel since 2001. None of the board types QEMU supports need
> +``param_struct`` support, so this option has been removed.

Reviewed-by: Philippe Mathieu-Daudé <philmd@linaro.org>