Re: [GNU-linux-libre] linux ppc micropatch.c: why keep it?

[Alexandre Oliva]

On Aug 24, 2021, Jeff Moe <moe@forksand.com> wrote:

> Hi Alexandre, it looks like you BCC'd me to a list post.

Indeed.  Sorry I didn't say so explicitly.

> https://lists.autistici.org/message/20080221.002845.467ba592.en.html

> It does not mention the CPM code.

Exactly.  It mentions bits that were removed.  The ppc microcode was
retained, so it wasn't mentioned.  It must have been flagged by
find-firmware, though.  The important question for me was why it was
retained.  I figured there was a good reason for that.

Though I used to take gNewSense's review double-checked by you as ground
truth, I'm now inclined to believe that leaving this file alone was one
of very few mistakes (perhaps the only one) made in the initial
cleaning-up, and that we've been carrying over under the assumption
there had been good reason to keep it.

vs6624_p1 in vs6624.c seems to have been another such mistake, tough
this one I made myself, and I'm about to correct it.

I'm also asking for broader opinions on arch/parisc/kernel/perf_images.h
and on cx11646_fw1 in drivers/media/video/gspca/conex.c.  The former
looks like data rather than code, so it could be fine, but though the
file states GPL, it also states it was borrowed from HP-UX.  The latter
amounts to 64 bytes of firmware that could very well be code (though it
might as well be pure data), and it's so small that it is believable
that there's no other source form.

Both have been retained over several releases, but since I've made
mistakes myself, and I'm respinning releases, and working on the git
history rewrite, I thought it would be a good time to revisit these if
needed.

Thanks,

-- 
Alexandre Oliva, happy hacker                https://FSFLA.org/blogs/lxo/
   Free Software Activist                       GNU Toolchain Engineer
Disinformation flourishes because many people care deeply about injustice
but very few check the facts.  Ask me about <https://stallmansupport.org>