Deprecating nds32-*-linux-* target for GCC 14 (and removing it for GCC 15)

Deprecating nds32-*-linux-* target for GCC 14 (and removing it for GCC 15)

[Andrew Pinski]

nds32 support in Linux was removed last year:
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Andes-Tech-NDS32-Removal

The support for glibc never made it upstream as far as I can tell either.

What are others thoughts on this?

Thanks,
Andrew Pinski

Re: Deprecating nds32-*-linux-* target for GCC 14 (and removing it for GCC 15)

[Joel Sherrill]

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On Mon, Dec 11, 2023 at 5:20 PM Andrew Pinski via Gcc <gcc@gcc.gnu.org>
wrote:

> nds32 support in Linux was removed last year:
> https://www.phoronix.com/news/Andes-Tech-NDS32-Removal
>
> The support for glibc never made it upstream as far as I can tell either.
>
> What are others thoughts on this?
>

Looks like a solid argument to drop it.

With even MIPS Technologies moving toward RISC-V, you have to
wonder how many processor architectures are on the downhill slide
into the tar pit of extinction.

--joel


>
> Thanks,
> Andrew Pinski
>

Re: Deprecating nds32-*-linux-* target for GCC 14 (and removing it for GCC 15)

[Jeff Law]

On 12/11/23 16:19, Andrew Pinski via Gcc wrote:
> nds32 support in Linux was removed last year:
> https://www.phoronix.com/news/Andes-Tech-NDS32-Removal
> 
> The support for glibc never made it upstream as far as I can tell either.
> 
> What are others thoughts on this?
I believe the architecture is dead, so I wouldn't lose any sleep if it 
got deprecated across the board.  While my tester includes nds32le-elf 
and nds32be-elf, there's no gdbsim, so those targets don't provide much, 
if any, additional coverage over targets in the tester.

Jeff

Re: Deprecating nds32-*-linux-* target for GCC 14 (and removing it for GCC 15)

[Chung-Ju Wu]

On 2023/12/12 07:43 UTC+8, Jeff Law via Gcc wrote:
> 
> 
> On 12/11/23 16:19, Andrew Pinski via Gcc wrote:
>> nds32 support in Linux was removed last year:
>> https://www.phoronix.com/news/Andes-Tech-NDS32-Removal
>>
>> The support for glibc never made it upstream as far as I can tell either.
>>
>> What are others thoughts on this?
> I believe the architecture is dead, so I wouldn't lose any sleep if it got deprecated across the board.  While my tester includes nds32le-elf and nds32be-elf, there's no gdbsim, so those targets don't provide much, if any, additional coverage over targets in the tester.
> 
> Jeff

Hi Jeff & Andrew,

After a brief discussion with the previous maintainers of
the Linux nds32 port, it is reasonable to deprecate nds32-linux
for GCC 14 and remove it for GCC 15.

However, considering that there are still customers relying on
nds32le-elf and nds32be-elf for their embedded systems,
it would be great to keep nds32le-elf and nds32be-elf in the
GCC/binutils-gdb/newlib-cygwin repository.

Regards,
jasonwucj

Re: Deprecating nds32-*-linux-* target for GCC 14 (and removing it for GCC 15)

[Chung-Ju Wu]

On 2023/12/12 07:43 UTC+8, Jeff Law via Gcc wrote:
> 
> 
> On 12/11/23 16:19, Andrew Pinski via Gcc wrote:
>> nds32 support in Linux was removed last year:
>> https://www.phoronix.com/news/Andes-Tech-NDS32-Removal
>>
>> The support for glibc never made it upstream as far as I can tell either.
>>
>> What are others thoughts on this?
> I believe the architecture is dead, so I wouldn't lose any sleep if it got deprecated across the board.  While my tester includes nds32le-elf and nds32be-elf, there's no gdbsim, so those targets don't provide much, if any, additional coverage over targets in the tester.
> 
> Jeff

Hi Jeff,

As for gdbsim/openocd, I remember that we did have nds32 contributions previously:
   - gdb: http://sourceware.org/ml/gdb-patches/2013-07/msg00223.html
   - openocd: http://openocd.zylin.com/1259

I suppose they have recently been dropped from the current gdb/openocd repository
due to the lack of maintenance.  I will reach out to Andes members to inquire whether
the architecture is still considered to be available in gdb/openocd.

Regards,
jasonwucj

Re: Deprecating nds32-*-linux-* target for GCC 14 (and removing it for GCC 15)

[Jeff Law]

On 12/13/23 23:25, Chung-Ju Wu wrote:

> 
> As for gdbsim/openocd, I remember that we did have nds32 contributions 
> previously:
>    - gdb: http://sourceware.org/ml/gdb-patches/2013-07/msg00223.html
>    - openocd: http://openocd.zylin.com/1259
> 
> I suppose they have recently been dropped from the current
> gdb/openocd repository due to the lack of maintenance.  I will reach
> out to Andes members to inquire whether the architecture is still
> considered to be available in gdb/openocd.
I don't see evidence that the sim patch ever got reviewed.  Given it's 
~10 years old, it'd probably need some work to be brought up to current 
standards.  If someone wanted to tackle that, it would be great.

Basically I just wanted to note that as it stands right now, while nds32 
is included in the tester's configurations, the lack of a simulator does 
limit how much benefit we get from including nds32.

jeff