meta-arm-toolchain updates and removal of legacy versions

meta-arm-toolchain updates and removal of legacy versions

[Jon Mason]

Hey Sumit and Denys,
We are in the process of updating recipes for the meta-arm hardknott
release.  The intention of doing so early is to give everything
sufficient time to soak and test (and downstream users time to complain
if we break them).  To this end, I see that there are updated versions
of the external toolchains, and I wanted to know:

1.  Is anyone currently working on updating the recipes to the very
recently released version
(https://developer.arm.com/tools-and-software/open-source-software/developer-tools/gnu-toolchain/gnu-a/downloads)?

2.  Are there any plans to remove the versions that are no longer
in-use/supported?


Everyone else,
Related to #2, what versions are people using that they would like us
to keep (or add if not currently present in meta-arm-toolchain)?

I don't want to break anyone or remove useful functionality, but I do
have concerns that there could be uncorrected GCC CVEs present in
older toolchains, and by continuing to make them available, we are
enabling this exposure.

Thanks,
Jon

Re: meta-arm-toolchain updates and removal of legacy versions

[Sumit Garg]

Hi Jon,

On Wed, 9 Dec 2020 at 21:31, Jon Mason <jdmason@kudzu.us> wrote:
>
> Hey Sumit and Denys,
> We are in the process of updating recipes for the meta-arm hardknott
> release.  The intention of doing so early is to give everything
> sufficient time to soak and test (and downstream users time to complain
> if we break them).  To this end, I see that there are updated versions
> of the external toolchains, and I wanted to know:
>
> 1.  Is anyone currently working on updating the recipes to the very
> recently released version
> (https://developer.arm.com/tools-and-software/open-source-software/developer-tools/gnu-toolchain/gnu-a/downloads)?
>

There are two ways to use GNU-A Arm toolchain in OE:

1. As pre-built external toolchain

-> Ideally the latest 10.2 release should work out-of-box without any
need for changes but requires testing.

2. As built from source

-> This requires support to be added for 10.2 release. I would like
this support to be added but currently I am busy with some other high
priority work and I could try to schedule this work next month. In the
meantime, contributions are pretty much welcome and I would be happy
to review patches and provide feedback.

> 2.  Are there any plans to remove the versions that are no longer
> in-use/supported?
>

I would be in favor of removing older toolchain version support from
master branch. As we should always try to use the same or closer major
version to the OE base toolchain and there's always a possibility of
breakage while using an older toolchain with the OE master.

>
> Everyone else,
> Related to #2, what versions are people using that they would like us
> to keep (or add if not currently present in meta-arm-toolchain)?
>
> I don't want to break anyone or remove useful functionality, but I do
> have concerns that there could be uncorrected GCC CVEs present in
> older toolchains, and by continuing to make them available, we are
> enabling this exposure.
>

Agree, let's wait till beginning next month. If we don't hear any
requirements for the older versions then I will go ahead and remove
them.

-Sumit

> Thanks,
> Jon

Re: [meta-arm] meta-arm-toolchain updates and removal of legacy versions

[Sumit Garg]

Hi Jon,

On Mon, 14 Dec 2020 at 10:16, Sumit Garg via lists.yoctoproject.org
<sumit.garg=linaro.org@lists.yoctoproject.org> wrote:
> On Wed, 9 Dec 2020 at 21:31, Jon Mason <jdmason@kudzu.us> wrote:
> >
> > Hey Sumit and Denys,
> > We are in the process of updating recipes for the meta-arm hardknott
> > release.  The intention of doing so early is to give everything
> > sufficient time to soak and test (and downstream users time to complain
> > if we break them).  To this end, I see that there are updated versions
> > of the external toolchains, and I wanted to know:
> >
> > 1.  Is anyone currently working on updating the recipes to the very
> > recently released version
> > (https://developer.arm.com/tools-and-software/open-source-software/developer-tools/gnu-toolchain/gnu-a/downloads)?
> >
>
> There are two ways to use GNU-A Arm toolchain in OE:
>
> 1. As pre-built external toolchain
>
> -> Ideally the latest 10.2 release should work out-of-box without any
> need for changes but requires testing.

Pre-built GCC 10.2 toolchain works pretty well after this minor fixup [1].

[1] https://lists.yoctoproject.org/g/meta-arm/message/1590

>
> 2. As built from source
>
> -> This requires support to be added for 10.2 release. I would like
> this support to be added but currently I am busy with some other high
> priority work and I could try to schedule this work next month. In the
> meantime, contributions are pretty much welcome and I would be happy
> to review patches and provide feedback.

This [2] patch adds support for GCC 10.2 toolchain release built from source.

[2] https://lists.yoctoproject.org/g/meta-arm/message/1586

>
> > 2.  Are there any plans to remove the versions that are no longer
> > in-use/supported?
> >
>
> I would be in favor of removing older toolchain version support from
> master branch. As we should always try to use the same or closer major
> version to the OE base toolchain and there's always a possibility of
> breakage while using an older toolchain with the OE master.
>
> >
> > Everyone else,
> > Related to #2, what versions are people using that they would like us
> > to keep (or add if not currently present in meta-arm-toolchain)?
> >
> > I don't want to break anyone or remove useful functionality, but I do
> > have concerns that there could be uncorrected GCC CVEs present in
> > older toolchains, and by continuing to make them available, we are
> > enabling this exposure.
> >
>
> Agree, let's wait till beginning next month. If we don't hear any
> requirements for the older versions then I will go ahead and remove
> them.

This [3] patch drops support for legacy 8.x toolchain.

[3] https://lists.yoctoproject.org/g/meta-arm/message/1587

-Sumit

>
> > Thanks,
> > Jon
>
> 
>

Re: [meta-arm] meta-arm-toolchain updates and removal of legacy versions

[Jon Mason]

On Thu, Jan 07, 2021 at 07:26:24PM +0530, Sumit Garg wrote:
> Hi Jon,
> 
> On Mon, 14 Dec 2020 at 10:16, Sumit Garg via lists.yoctoproject.org
> <sumit.garg=linaro.org@lists.yoctoproject.org> wrote:
> > On Wed, 9 Dec 2020 at 21:31, Jon Mason <jdmason@kudzu.us> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hey Sumit and Denys,
> > > We are in the process of updating recipes for the meta-arm hardknott
> > > release.  The intention of doing so early is to give everything
> > > sufficient time to soak and test (and downstream users time to complain
> > > if we break them).  To this end, I see that there are updated versions
> > > of the external toolchains, and I wanted to know:
> > >
> > > 1.  Is anyone currently working on updating the recipes to the very
> > > recently released version
> > > (https://developer.arm.com/tools-and-software/open-source-software/developer-tools/gnu-toolchain/gnu-a/downloads)?
> > >
> >
> > There are two ways to use GNU-A Arm toolchain in OE:
> >
> > 1. As pre-built external toolchain
> >
> > -> Ideally the latest 10.2 release should work out-of-box without any
> > need for changes but requires testing.
> 
> Pre-built GCC 10.2 toolchain works pretty well after this minor fixup [1].
> 
> [1] https://lists.yoctoproject.org/g/meta-arm/message/1590
> 
> >
> > 2. As built from source
> >
> > -> This requires support to be added for 10.2 release. I would like
> > this support to be added but currently I am busy with some other high
> > priority work and I could try to schedule this work next month. In the
> > meantime, contributions are pretty much welcome and I would be happy
> > to review patches and provide feedback.
> 
> This [2] patch adds support for GCC 10.2 toolchain release built from source.
> 
> [2] https://lists.yoctoproject.org/g/meta-arm/message/1586
> 
> >
> > > 2.  Are there any plans to remove the versions that are no longer
> > > in-use/supported?
> > >
> >
> > I would be in favor of removing older toolchain version support from
> > master branch. As we should always try to use the same or closer major
> > version to the OE base toolchain and there's always a possibility of
> > breakage while using an older toolchain with the OE master.
> >
> > >
> > > Everyone else,
> > > Related to #2, what versions are people using that they would like us
> > > to keep (or add if not currently present in meta-arm-toolchain)?
> > >
> > > I don't want to break anyone or remove useful functionality, but I do
> > > have concerns that there could be uncorrected GCC CVEs present in
> > > older toolchains, and by continuing to make them available, we are
> > > enabling this exposure.
> > >
> >
> > Agree, let's wait till beginning next month. If we don't hear any
> > requirements for the older versions then I will go ahead and remove
> > them.
> 
> This [3] patch drops support for legacy 8.x toolchain.
> 
> [3] https://lists.yoctoproject.org/g/meta-arm/message/1587
> 
> -Sumit

Thanks for doing this Sumit

Thanks,
Jon

> 
> >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Jon
> >
> > 
> >