On 02/16/2017 03:19 PM, Segher Boessenkool wrote:
On Thu, Feb 16, 2017 at 02:49:47PM -0700, Sandra Loosemore wrote:
I propose to mark powerpc*-*-*spe* as obsolete in GCC 7. This includes
the spe.h installed header file, all the __builtin_spe* intrinsics, the
-mfloat-gprs= command-line option, and the support for the SPE ABIs.
No one has properly tested these targets in a long time (the latest
testresults I could find are from July 2015, >1000 failures), and the
SPE support makes a lot of code much more complex.
Any objections to this obsoletion? GCC 7 will then be the last release
with support for SPE (it will need --enable-obsolete to build these
targets), and we will delete the SPE support during GCC 8 development.
Can I ask that we hold off a bit before making a decision on this?
Of course, that is what we're doing in any case.
Note that obsoleting it in GCC 7 means GCC 7 will still work, and that
we *can* remove it in GCC 8; we do not have to. You have plenty of time
to find some way to keep SPE support in GCC. The obsoletion notice _is_
the advance warning you're asking for.
The gcc-7/changes.html text I'll propose later says:
<li><p>Support for a number of older systems and recently
unmaintained or untested target ports of GCC has been declared
obsolete in GCC 7. Unless there is activity to revive them, the
next release of GCC will have their sources permanently
<strong>removed</strong>.</p>
<p>The following ports for individual systems on
particular architectures have been obsoleted:</p>
<ul>
<li>PowerPC SPE (powerpc*-*-*spe*) as announced
<a href="https://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc/2017-02/msg00041.html";>
here</a>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
I understand that you're not going to remove the SPE support tomorrow.
But that notice is going to scare users who depend on it, and I think
it's not a good idea to scare users unnecessarily. AFAIK GCC 7 is not
going to be released tomorrow, either, so why not give folks a little
more time to look into alternatives to announcing the support is being
obsoleted? IMO that should only be done when new maintainers have been
solicited and nobody has come forward.
-Sandra
