[PATCH] mips: Mark the "mipssim" machine as deprecated

[PATCH] mips: Mark the "mipssim" machine as deprecated

[Thomas Huth]

We are not aware of anybody still using this machine, support for it
has been withdrawn from the Linux kernel (i.e. there also won't be
any future development anymore), and we are not aware of any binaries
online that could be used for regression testing to avoid that the
machine bitrots ... thus let's mark it as deprecated now.

Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
---
 If anybody is still using this machine, please speak up now!

 docs/about/deprecated.rst | 13 +++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+)

diff --git a/docs/about/deprecated.rst b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
index 4a3c302962..133c8bab93 100644
--- a/docs/about/deprecated.rst
+++ b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
@@ -257,6 +257,19 @@ Big-Endian variants of MicroBlaze ``petalogix-ml605`` and ``xlnx-zynqmp-pmu`` ma
 Both ``petalogix-ml605`` and ``xlnx-zynqmp-pmu`` were added for little endian
 CPUs. Big endian support is not tested.
 
+Mips ``mipssim`` machine (since 10.0)
+'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
+
+Linux dropped support for this virtual machine type in kernel v3.7, and
+there does not seem to be anybody around who is still using this board
+in QEMU: Most former MIPS-related people are working on other architectures
+in their everyday job nowadays, and we are also not aware of anybody still
+using old binaries with this board (i.e. there is also no binary available
+online to check that this board did not completely bitrot yet). It is
+recommended to use another MIPS machine for future MIPS code development
+instead.
+
+
 Backend options
 ---------------
 
-- 
2.48.1

Re: [PATCH] mips: Mark the "mipssim" machine as deprecated

[Philippe Mathieu-Daudé]

On 21/1/25 11:36, Thomas Huth wrote:
> We are not aware of anybody still using this machine, support for it
> has been withdrawn from the Linux kernel (i.e. there also won't be
> any future development anymore), and we are not aware of any binaries
> online that could be used for regression testing to avoid that the
> machine bitrots ... thus let's mark it as deprecated now.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
> ---
>   If anybody is still using this machine, please speak up now!
> 
>   docs/about/deprecated.rst | 13 +++++++++++++
>   1 file changed, 13 insertions(+)

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

Re: [PATCH] mips: Mark the "mipssim" machine as deprecated

[Jiaxun Yang]

在2025年1月21日一月 上午10:36，Thomas Huth写道：
> We are not aware of anybody still using this machine, support for it
> has been withdrawn from the Linux kernel (i.e. there also won't be
> any future development anymore), and we are not aware of any binaries
> online that could be used for regression testing to avoid that the
> machine bitrots ... thus let's mark it as deprecated now.
>
> Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
> ---
>  If anybody is still using this machine, please speak up now!


FYI I'm using it to run MIPS AVP (Architecture Verification Programs)
time by time to check TCG's compliance.

It is a proprietary software so unfortunately no binary available
to public :-(

AVP has two supported platforms, the first is plain old MIPSSIM
here, the second is OVPSim MIPS, which is compatible with my previous
MIPS virt machine effort.

Maybe I should bring MIPSSIM work back?

Thanks
- Jiaxun

>
>  docs/about/deprecated.rst | 13 +++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 13 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/docs/about/deprecated.rst b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> index 4a3c302962..133c8bab93 100644
> --- a/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> +++ b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> @@ -257,6 +257,19 @@ Big-Endian variants of MicroBlaze 
> ``petalogix-ml605`` and ``xlnx-zynqmp-pmu`` ma
>  Both ``petalogix-ml605`` and ``xlnx-zynqmp-pmu`` were added for little 
> endian
>  CPUs. Big endian support is not tested.
> 
> +Mips ``mipssim`` machine (since 10.0)
> +'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
> +
> +Linux dropped support for this virtual machine type in kernel v3.7, and
> +there does not seem to be anybody around who is still using this board
> +in QEMU: Most former MIPS-related people are working on other architectures
> +in their everyday job nowadays, and we are also not aware of anybody still
> +using old binaries with this board (i.e. there is also no binary available
> +online to check that this board did not completely bitrot yet). It is
> +recommended to use another MIPS machine for future MIPS code development
> +instead.
> +
> +
>  Backend options
>  ---------------
> 
> -- 
> 2.48.1

-- 
- Jiaxun

Re: [PATCH] mips: Mark the "mipssim" machine as deprecated

[Jiaxun Yang]

在2025年1月21日一月 下午12:07，Jiaxun Yang写道：
> 在2025年1月21日一月 上午10:36，Thomas Huth写道：
>> We are not aware of anybody still using this machine, support for it
>> has been withdrawn from the Linux kernel (i.e. there also won't be
>> any future development anymore), and we are not aware of any binaries
>> online that could be used for regression testing to avoid that the
>> machine bitrots ... thus let's mark it as deprecated now.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
>> ---
>>  If anybody is still using this machine, please speak up now!
>
>
> FYI I'm using it to run MIPS AVP (Architecture Verification Programs)
> time by time to check TCG's compliance.
>
> It is a proprietary software so unfortunately no binary available
> to public :-(
>
> AVP has two supported platforms, the first is plain old MIPSSIM
> here, the second is OVPSim MIPS, which is compatible with my previous
> MIPS virt machine effort.
>
> Maybe I should bring MIPSSIM work back?
                        ^ Oops I meant MIPS VIRT.

Thanks
-- 
- Jiaxun

Re: [PATCH] mips: Mark the "mipssim" machine as deprecated

[Thomas Huth]

On 21/01/2025 13.07, Jiaxun Yang wrote:
> 
> 
> 在2025年1月21日一月 上午10:36，Thomas Huth写道：
>> We are not aware of anybody still using this machine, support for it
>> has been withdrawn from the Linux kernel (i.e. there also won't be
>> any future development anymore), and we are not aware of any binaries
>> online that could be used for regression testing to avoid that the
>> machine bitrots ... thus let's mark it as deprecated now.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
>> ---
>>   If anybody is still using this machine, please speak up now!
> 
> 
> FYI I'm using it to run MIPS AVP (Architecture Verification Programs)
> time by time to check TCG's compliance.

Ok, if you're still using it, we can certainly keep it around... but it 
would be really good to have an old Linux kernel or something similar 
available online somewhere that we could use for a CI test for this machine, 
so we can make sure that it does not bitrot... do you happen to know whether 
such a kernel is available somewhere?

Also, please consider volunteering for becoming the maintainer of the 
machine in the MAINTAINERS file ... currently it's marked as "Orphan" there 
which was also a strong indication that nobody really cares for this machine 
anymore.

  Thomas

Re: [PATCH] mips: Mark the "mipssim" machine as deprecated

[Philippe Mathieu-Daudé]

Hi Jiaxun,

On 21/1/25 13:16, Thomas Huth wrote:
> On 21/01/2025 13.07, Jiaxun Yang wrote:
>>
>>
>> 在2025年1月21日一月 上午10:36，Thomas Huth写道：
>>> We are not aware of anybody still using this machine, support for it
>>> has been withdrawn from the Linux kernel (i.e. there also won't be
>>> any future development anymore), and we are not aware of any binaries
>>> online that could be used for regression testing to avoid that the
>>> machine bitrots ... thus let's mark it as deprecated now.
>>>
>>> Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
>>> ---
>>>   If anybody is still using this machine, please speak up now!
>>
>>
>> FYI I'm using it to run MIPS AVP (Architecture Verification Programs)
>> time by time to check TCG's compliance.

Is MIPS AVP accessible somewhere?

> 
> Ok, if you're still using it, we can certainly keep it around... but it 
> would be really good to have an old Linux kernel or something similar 
> available online somewhere that we could use for a CI test for this 
> machine, so we can make sure that it does not bitrot... do you happen to 
> know whether such a kernel is available somewhere?

Otherwise what can we use to test this machine?

> 
> Also, please consider volunteering for becoming the maintainer of the 
> machine in the MAINTAINERS file ... currently it's marked as "Orphan" 
> there which was also a strong indication that nobody really cares for 
> this machine anymore.
> 
>   Thomas
> 

Re: [PATCH] mips: Mark the "mipssim" machine as deprecated

[Philippe Mathieu-Daudé]

On 21/1/25 13:09, Jiaxun Yang wrote:
> 
> 
> 在2025年1月21日一月 下午12:07，Jiaxun Yang写道：
>> 在2025年1月21日一月 上午10:36，Thomas Huth写道：
>>> We are not aware of anybody still using this machine, support for it
>>> has been withdrawn from the Linux kernel (i.e. there also won't be
>>> any future development anymore), and we are not aware of any binaries
>>> online that could be used for regression testing to avoid that the
>>> machine bitrots ... thus let's mark it as deprecated now.
>>>
>>> Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
>>> ---
>>>   If anybody is still using this machine, please speak up now!
>>
>>
>> FYI I'm using it to run MIPS AVP (Architecture Verification Programs)
>> time by time to check TCG's compliance.
>>
>> It is a proprietary software so unfortunately no binary available
>> to public :-(
>>
>> AVP has two supported platforms, the first is plain old MIPSSIM
>> here, the second is OVPSim MIPS, which is compatible with my previous
>> MIPS virt machine effort.
>>
>> Maybe I should bring MIPSSIM work back?
>                          ^ Oops I meant MIPS VIRT.

IIRC I didn't finished to review the previous version?

Is it this series?
https://lore.kernel.org/qemu-devel/20221124212916.723490-1-jiaxun.yang@flygoat.com/

Re: [PATCH] mips: Mark the "mipssim" machine as deprecated

[Philippe Mathieu-Daudé]

On 31/3/25 14:03, Philippe Mathieu-Daudé wrote:
> On 21/1/25 13:09, Jiaxun Yang wrote:
>> 在2025年1月21日一月 下午12:07，Jiaxun Yang写道：
>>> 在2025年1月21日一月 上午10:36，Thomas Huth写道：
>>>> We are not aware of anybody still using this machine, support for it
>>>> has been withdrawn from the Linux kernel (i.e. there also won't be
>>>> any future development anymore), and we are not aware of any binaries
>>>> online that could be used for regression testing to avoid that the
>>>> machine bitrots ... thus let's mark it as deprecated now.
>>>>
>>>> Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
>>>> ---
>>>>   If anybody is still using this machine, please speak up now!
>>>
>>>
>>> FYI I'm using it to run MIPS AVP (Architecture Verification Programs)
>>> time by time to check TCG's compliance.
>>>
>>> It is a proprietary software so unfortunately no binary available
>>> to public :-(
>>>
>>> AVP has two supported platforms, the first is plain old MIPSSIM
>>> here, the second is OVPSim MIPS, which is compatible with my previous
>>> MIPS virt machine effort.
>>>
>>> Maybe I should bring MIPSSIM work back?
>>                          ^ Oops I meant MIPS VIRT.
> 
> IIRC I didn't finished to review the previous version?
> 
> Is it this series?
> https://lore.kernel.org/qemu-devel/20221124212916.723490-1- 
> jiaxun.yang@flygoat.com/

As the 'MIPS VirtIO Machine' looks quite easy, I can see it being
merged within 2 releases, so it seems safe to deprecate the MipsSim
one meanwhile.

Re: [PATCH] mips: Mark the "mipssim" machine as deprecated

[Philippe Mathieu-Daudé]

On 21/1/25 11:36, Thomas Huth wrote:
> We are not aware of anybody still using this machine, support for it
> has been withdrawn from the Linux kernel (i.e. there also won't be
> any future development anymore), and we are not aware of any binaries
> online that could be used for regression testing to avoid that the
> machine bitrots ... thus let's mark it as deprecated now.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
> ---
>   If anybody is still using this machine, please speak up now!
> 
>   docs/about/deprecated.rst | 13 +++++++++++++
>   1 file changed, 13 insertions(+)

Thanks, patch queued.