Obsolete powerpc*-*-*spe*

[Sandra Loosemore]

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