Re: [Qemu-arm] [Qemu-devel] [PATCH 0/2] Deprecate the "collie" machine and Strongarm devices

[Guenter Roeck]

On Mon, Oct 29, 2018 at 04:03:40PM +0100, Philippe Mathieu-Daudé wrote:
> Hi Guenter,
> 
> On 29/10/18 15:09, Guenter Roeck wrote:
> >On 10/29/18 6:24 AM, Peter Maydell wrote:
> >>On 27 October 2018 at 12:04, Guenter Roeck <address@hidden> wrote:
> >>>On 10/26/18 3:12 AM, Peter Maydell wrote:
> >>>>Hi Guenter; there's a proposal here to deprecate (and eventually
> >>>>remove) the 'collie' board (strongarm) from QEMU. Is that one of
> >>>>the ones you're currently using in your automated testing of Linux
> >>>>kernels on QEMU?
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>Yes. I can run the test with older versions of qemu, so it is ok for me
> >>>if it is removed (as long as that removal is not backported).
> >>
> >>Mmm, but if we have an active user who's testing them then they
> >>probably shouldn't be in the frontline of boards to remove.
> >>Which other boards do you test with mainline QEMU?
> >>
> >
> >For arm:
> >
> >akita
> >ast2500-evb
> >beagle
> >beaglexm
> >borzoi
> >collie
> >cubieboard
> >imx25-pdk
> >integratorcp
> >kzm
> >mainstone
> >midway
> >mps2-an385
> >overo
> >palmetto-bmc
> >raspi2
> >realview-eb
> >realview-eb-mpcore
> >realview-pb-a8
> >realview-pbx-a9
> >romulus-bmc
> >sabrelite
> >smdkc210
> >spitz
> >terrier
> >tosa
> >versatileab
> >versatilepb
> >vexpress-a15
> >vexpress-a15-a7
> >vexpress-a9
> >witherspoon-bmc
> >xilinx-zynq-a9
> >z2
> >
> >Though not all of them are supported by upstream qemu. For some of them I
> >carry local patches,
> >for others I use out-of-tree versions of qemu (beagle/beaglexm).
> 
> Are these patches upstream-able?
> 

Some of the patches (eg to be able to boot a Linux kernel image for mps2-an385
directly from qemu, or zynq CPU clock rate changes to be able to do the same)
have been rejected. A few patches were submitted at some point but got lost.
I don't keep track, so I don't know the exact number. For some patches, such
as basic BCM283x CPRMAN support (needed to boot raspi2), a better
implementation was suggested, but didn't go anywhere as far as I know.

Some machines, such as beagle support, are from Linaro's tree and were never
upstreamed by Linaro. The Linaro branch is based off qemu 2.3, so applying
the changes to upstream qemu would be a major effort. I also use the m68k
branch from github.com:vivier/qemu-m68k.git for m68k tests.

I carry some 20+ patches locally in my qemu tree. Some may be obsolete or
not or no longer needed (my understanding of qemu is evolving). Sometimes,
if and when I find the time, I pick some and try to upstream, but I often
don't follow up if there is no response or if the requested changes are
too substantial.

Please feel free to have a look at https://github.com/groeck/qemu
(check the <version>-local branches) and let me know what might be
upstreamable. I'll be happy to (re-)submit the respective patches.
Note that I won't be able to make any substantial changes, though.
Time is a scarce commodity nowadays, unfortunately.

Guenter