[EXTERNAL]Re: MIPS Maintainer

[Chao-ying Fu]

Hi Maciej,

> > >  Well, it's up to the GCC steering committee really to appoint maintainers 
> > > <https://gcc.gnu.org/steering.html>, however you can post patches and help 
> > > with getting reviews through right away.  There hasn't been much traffic 
> > > with the MIPS port recently, but there has been some and it always helps 
> > > to have someone provide input.
> > 
> >   I got David Edelsohn's email and replied to him yesterday.
> > We have some small tweaks in GCC and can send the patches.

>  Please note that GCC is in Stage 3 as from Nov 16th, so if these are bug 
> fixes, then they may still qualify for inclusion with the upcoming GCC 11 
> release expected May-ish next year, but you need to hurry and submit them 
> ASAP.  Otherwise you'll have to wait until trunk reopens for general 
> development around the time of the release.

>  See: <https://gcc.gnu.org/develop.html> for the release pattern and: 
> <https://gcc.gnu.org/pipermail/gcc/2020-November/234246.html> for the most 
> recent status (always linked from the: <https://gcc.gnu.org/> home page).

> > There is a big patch for nanoMIPS that stays as-is for long time.
> > It will take time to get the patch working against the latest code base,
> > if the community wants to include nanoMIPS in GCC.

 > I am glad this has not been lost, contrary to the fears I have expressed 
> in a discussion on the MIPS/NetBSD mailing list as recently as last week.

  It's great to know.

>  This is however a major new feature, so it will definitely have to wait 
> for Stage 1.  You may post the patch(es) regardless, however they may not 
> attract much attention as people are busy with QA for GCC 11, especially 
> as in the current situation it is likely it will have to be a general 
> maintainer to approve such a change.  Mind that given how it has been 
> defined the nanoMIPS ISA might be considered an entirely new port/platform 
> though it will depend on how the support for it has been wired into GCC (I 
> don't know the details myself, I wasn't following that development).

>  Also you will have to have binutils support approved and committed first, 
> and given their semiannual release schedule you may well start working on 
> a submission right away, so that at least you have a chance to have that 
> included with the Jul 2021 release (surely you won't make it for the Jan 
> 2021 one).

>  David has kindly explained the rest: just post the changes and have them 
> reviewed, and it's up to the community to decide if a new maintainer is 
> required and if so, who will that be.

  Yes, we will submit patches to get reviewed. Let the community decide if a 
new MIPS maintainer is needed.

>  And last but not least, please make sure you are covered by a copyright 
> assignment with FSF under your current employment.

  Yes, I will try to get a copyright assignment with FSF under Wave Computing.
My old ssh key is not working to clone GCC or Binutils git. I will need some help, later.

  Thanks a lot!

Regards,
Chao-ying