[coreboot] Platform / Chip removals after upcoming releases

Thu May 11 18:24:16 CEST 2017

Along with the latest coreboot release, coreboot announced some standards
for removing platforms after upcoming releases.

Summary:
* After the 4.7 release platforms that do not support cbmem in romstage
will be removed.  Please see the list of platforms to be removed if no work
is done to update them at the end of this email.

* After the 4.8 release, and with every release after that, platforms that
have not been updated in the board-status repository within the previous
year will be removed.

Code removal after the 4.7 release
----------------------------------------------

One of the things that the coreboot project has struggled with is how to
maintain the older platforms while still moving the rest of the platforms
forward. Currently there are numerous platforms in the codebase which have
not
been well maintained.

Starting with the 4.7 release in October, the coreboot leadership is going
to
set standards that platforms are expected to meet to remain in the active
codebase. These will generally be announced 3 to 6 months in advance to give
time to get changes in. The expectation is not necessarily even that all
work
to meet the goal will be completed, but it is expected that a reasonable
effort has started to meet the goal at the time of the release. Regardless
of
the work that's been done, platforms which have not met the goal by the
following release will be removed.

The next expectation that will need to be met for all platforms is cbmem in
romstage. This currently affects numerous platforms, including most, if not
all of AMD's platforms. Work to update many of these platforms has started,
but there are others that have not made any progress towards this goal. A
list
of the platforms that are affected by this is included at the end of this
email.

Please know that this is not a new idea, there is precedent for this in the
coreboot project with the removal of platforms that did not support
Cache-as-RAM.  Two platforms were exempted from that cleanup effort, and
exceptions might be made for platforms going forward.  Honestly, the hope
is that this will spur work to bring the older platforms up to current
standards.

Note that work for removed platforms CAN continue on the release branch,
just not on the master branch.  Additionally, if the work is done to bring
the platform up to the current standards, it can definitely be brought back
into the master branch.

Code removal after the 4.8 release
----------------------------------------------

To further clean things up, starting with the 4.8 release, any platform that
does not have a successful boot logged in the board_status repo in the
previous year (that is, within the previous two releases) will be removed
from
the maintained coreboot codebase. Chips that do not have any associated
boards
will also be removed. These platforms will be announced before the release
so
that there is time for people to test if desired.

This is not meant to be a high bar, but as a measure to clean up the
codebase
and eliminate boards and chips that are actually no longer being used. The
cleanup will happen just after the release, so the removed platforms will
still be available in the release branch if desired. If there is still
interest, developers can bring back old chips and boards by porting them to
the new tree (and bringing them to current standards).

This gives everyone until April 2018 to get any boards that they care about
tested before the first removal.  Additional instructions and improvements
to the board_status script are expected within the next few months to
facilitate testing.

146 Platforms currently scheduled for removal after 4.7 if no work is done
to update them
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AAEON_PFM_540I_REVB
ABIT_BE6_II_V2_0
AMD_BETTONG
AMD_DB800
AMD_DB_FT3B_LC
AMD_DBM690T
AMD_DINAR
AMD_F2950
AMD_GARDENIA
AMD_INAGUA
AMD_LAMAR
AMD_MAHOGANY
AMD_NORWICH
AMD_OLIVEHILL
AMD_OLIVEHILLPLUS
AMD_PARMER
AMD_PERSIMMON
AMD_PISTACHIO
AMD_RUMBA
AMD_SERENGETI_CHEETAH
AMD_SOUTHSTATION
AMD_THATCHER
AMD_TORPEDO
AMD_UNIONSTATION
AOPEN_DXPLPLUSU
ARTECGROUP_DBE61
ASROCK_939A785GMH
ASROCK_E350M1
ASROCK_IMB_A180
ASUS_A8N_E
ASUS_A8N_SLI
ASUS_A8V_E_DELUXE
ASUS_A8V_E_SE
ASUS_DSBF
ASUS_F2A85_M
ASUS_F2A85_M_LE
ASUS_F2A85_M_PRO
ASUS_K8V_X
ASUS_KFSN4_DRE_K8
ASUS_M2N_E
ASUS_M2V
ASUS_M2V_MX_SE
ASUS_MEW_AM
ASUS_MEW_VM
ASUS_P2B
ASUS_P2B_D
ASUS_P2B_DS
ASUS_P2B_F
ASUS_P2B_LS
ASUS_P3B_F
A_TREND_ATC_6220
A_TREND_ATC_6240
AZZA_PT_6IBD
BACHMANN_OT200
BCOM_WINNETP680
BIFFEROS_BIFFERBOARD
BIOSTAR_AM1ML
BIOSTAR_M6TBA
BROADCOM_BLAST
COMPAQ_DESKPRO_EN_SFF_P600
DIGITALLOGIC_MSM800SEV
DMP_EX
ECS_P6IWP_FE
ELMEX_PCM205400
ELMEX_PCM205401
GIGABYTE_GA_2761GXDK
GIGABYTE_GA_6BXC
GIGABYTE_GA_6BXE
GIGABYTE_M57SLI
GIZMOSPHERE_GIZMO
GIZMOSPHERE_GIZMO2
HP_ABM
HP_DL145_G1
HP_DL145_G3
HP_E_VECTRA_P2706T
HP_PAVILION_M6_1035DX
IEI_PCISA_LX_800_R10
IEI_PM_LX2_800_R10
IEI_PM_LX_800_R11
INTEL_D810E2CB
INTEL_EAGLEHEIGHTS
INTEL_MTARVON
INTEL_TRUXTON
IWAVE_RAINBOW_G6
IWILL_DK8_HTX
JETWAY_J7F2
JETWAY_J7F4K1G2E
JETWAY_J7F4K1G5D
JETWAY_NF81_T56N_LF
KONTRON_KT690
LANNER_EM8510
LENOVO_G505S
LINUTOP_LINUTOP1
LIPPERT_FRONTRUNNER
LIPPERT_FRONTRUNNER_AF
LIPPERT_HURRICANE_LX
LIPPERT_LITERUNNER_LX
LIPPERT_ROADRUNNER_LX
LIPPERT_SPACERUNNER_LX
LIPPERT_TOUCAN_AF
MITAC_6513WU
MSI_MS_6119
MSI_MS_6147
MSI_MS_6156
MSI_MS_6178
MSI_MS7135
MSI_MS7260
MSI_MS7721
MSI_MS9185
MSI_MS9282
NEC_POWERMATE_2000
NOKIA_IP530
NVIDIA_L1_2PVV
ODE_E20XX
ODE_E21XX
PCENGINES_ALIX1C
PCENGINES_ALIX2C
PCENGINES_ALIX2D
PCENGINES_ALIX6
PCENGINES_APU1
PCENGINES_APU2
RCA_RM4100
SIEMENS_SITEMP_G1P1
SOYO_SY_6BA_PLUS_III
SUNW_ULTRA40
SUNW_ULTRA40M2
SUPERMICRO_H8DME
SUPERMICRO_H8DMR
SUPERMICRO_H8QGI
SUPERMICRO_H8SCM
SUPERMICRO_X7DB8
TECHNEXION_TIM5690
TECHNEXION_TIM8690
THOMSON_IP1000
TRAVERSE_GEOS
TYAN_S1846
TYAN_S2912
TYAN_S8226
VIA_EPIA_CN
VIA_EPIA_M700
VIA_EPIA_M850
VIA_PC2500E
VIA_VT8454C
WINENT_MB6047
WINENT_PL6064
WYSE_S50
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