Re: [linux-next:master 70/7526] undefined reference to `__trace_hardirqs_off'

From: Alan Kao <alankao@andestech.com>
To: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
Cc: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>,
	Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@infradead.org>,
	kernel test robot <lkp@intel.com>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
	<kbuild-all@lists.01.org>,
	"Linux Memory Management List" <linux-mm@kvack.org>,
	Greentime Hu <green.hu@gmail.com>,
	"Nick Hu" <nickhu@andestech.com>,
	Vincent Chen <deanbo422@gmail.com>, KC <kclin@andestech.com>,
	Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@kernel.org>, <nickhu@sifive.com>,
	<nick.hu@sifive.com>
Subject: Re: [linux-next:master 70/7526] undefined reference to `__trace_hardirqs_off'
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2022 17:56:04 +0800	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <YhdWNLUhk+x9RAzU@yamatobi.andestech.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAK8P3a0pr9_gHOieWf_gd4sFx7Z+urp420hMOBH+Hp5s-3-76g@mail.gmail.com>

Hi Arnd,

On Thu, Feb 24, 2022 at 09:38:30AM +0100, Arnd Bergmann wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 24, 2022 at 4:40 AM Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org> wrote:
> > On Wed, 23 Feb 2022 19:12:45 -0800 Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@infradead.org> wrote:
> > > On 2/23/22 18:33, Steven Rostedt wrote:
> > > > On Wed, 23 Feb 2022 17:53:00 -0800
> > > > Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@infradead.org> wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> On 2/23/22 17:44, Randy Dunlap wrote:
> > > >>> Hi ktr, bouncing NDS32 maintainer, Andrew, Steven,
> > > >>>
> > > >>
> > > >> [now adding Andrew and Steven!]
> > > >
> > > > This needs to go via the NDS32 maintainers. If it's being ignored, then
> > > > we can consider the architecture as orphaned and start the process of
> > > > removal. ;-)
> > >
> > > Yes, it appears to be about that time...
> >
> > Hi Arnd,
> >
> > Just putting this on your "chopping block" radar.
> 
> Yes, that makes sense. I think nds32 was always going to be a
> short-lived architecture as Andestech was already in the process of
> moving to RISC-V before it was ever submitted upstream. I did
> hope that it would live a little longer, but it seems that everyone who
> ever worked on it in mainline has left andestech by now.
> 
> I'm guessing Nick's current email address based on his Linkedin page,
> maybe he can contact someone who is still there and able to
> take over.

I am in charge of this now.

> 
> I think nds32 is still in a better shape than a lot of the older
> architectures in mainline, and the CPU cores are still actively
> marketed for licensing. OTOH it only gets worse if nobody cares
> about the code, and users are probably already better off with
> one of the older longterm supported kernels. If we remove
> arch/nds32 before the next longterm release, that gives users
> stable updates until late 2026 using linux-5.10.y, which is
> probably sufficient.
> 
>         Arnd

All of our nds32 customers maintain their own kernel derived from
previous LTS versions.  Also, we (as the Linux team in Andes) now
dedicate our whole effort to RISC-V, so there is no longer need
to maintain arch/nds32.

We really appreciate your guidance and support.  Many thanks to
the community as well.

Alan