Re: [PATCH-for-9.1] target/nios2: Remove machines and system emulation

[Philippe Mathieu-Daudé]

On 27/3/24 14:19, Thomas Huth wrote:
> On 27/03/2024 13.45, Philippe Mathieu-Daudé wrote:
> > On 27/3/24 13:35, Philippe Mathieu-Daudé wrote:
> > > Remove the Nios II machines and the system emulation code
> > > (deprecated since v8.2 in commit 9997771bc1 "target/nios2:
> > > Deprecate the Nios II architecture").
>
> Please remind me, why didn't we deprecate the linux-user emulation, too?

Hmm I think we actually did (overall target), since there is
an issue with signals.

> > > diff --git a/hw/nios2/Kconfig b/hw/nios2/Kconfig
> > > deleted file mode 100644
> > > index 4748ae27b6..0000000000
> > > --- a/hw/nios2/Kconfig
> > > +++ /dev/null
> > > @@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
> > > -config NIOS2_10M50
> > > -    bool
> > > -    select NIOS2
> > > -    select SERIAL
> > > -    select ALTERA_TIMER
> >
> > I forgot to mention I deliberately chose to keep the Altera
> > timer model in the tree, since it looks like a re-usable
> > IP component.
>
> But if it is not used anymore by any machine, this will happily bitrot, 
> won't it? I think I'd rather remove it, too ... maybe in a separate 
> patch, so that in case somebody later needs it again, it can be restored 
> by simply reverting the patch again.

It is related to dynamic machines, how do we decide what components
to remove once there? I suppose we'd need to deprecate every single
component, like ALTERA_TIMER. But we are not yet generating dynamic
machines, so for now we can consider ALTERA_TIMER part of Nios II
sysemu removal. I like your idea of removing it as a separate patch.