GCC policy on deprecating and removing targets

[mark.reinhold@oracle.com]

2017/11/17 23:34:31 -0800, Andrew Haley <aph@redhat.com>:
> On 18/11/17 01:44, Jeff Law wrote:
>> On 11/17/2017 02:20 PM, mark.reinhold@oracle.com wrote:
>>> Is https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/TargetDeprecationFAQ the authoritative
>>> definition of the policy for deprecating and then removing support
>>> for specific targets?  If not, is there a more recent document?
>>> (That wiki page was last updated in 2008.)
>> 
>> It's still reasonably accurate.  We tend to have folks doing a bit wider
>> scale testing than in the past, so for example you may find references
>> to myself or someone else testing some target that in reality is
>> probably ready for deprecation.  So we're not likely to be as strict on #1.

Thanks for the confirmation.

>> Are you going to suggest deprecating a particular target or are you
>> trying to keep a particular target from being deprecated? :-)
> 
> I suspect that Mark is looking for inspiration.  We're transitioning
> OpenJDK to something more like a typical free-software project, and
> GCC has a similar structure of front- and back-ends, and has
> demonstrated the ability to scale as a project.

Exactly.  OpenJDK has reached the point where we have a variety of ports.
Some are very actively maintained, some are less so, and some are on the
verge of abandonment.  It's time to discuss and agree on what it means
to maintain a port, and what the process is for proposing to remove one
that's no longer maintained.

- Mark