ia64 removal (was: Re: lockref scalability on x86-64 vs cpu_relax)

[Jessica Clarke]

On 13 Jan 2023, at 21:03, Luck, Tony <tony.luck at intel.com> wrote:
> 
>> For what it's worth, Debian and Gentoo both have ia64 ports with active
>> users (6.1 looks like it currently fails to build in Debian due to a
>> minor packaging issue, but various versions of 6.0 were built and
>> published, and one of those is running on the one ia64 Debian builder I
>> personally have access to).
> 
> Jess,
> 
> So dropping ia64 from the upstream kernel won't just save time of kernel
> developers. It will also save time for the folks keeping Debian and Gentoo
> ports up and running.
> 
> Are there people actually running production systems on ia64 that also
> update to v6.x kernels?
> 
> If so, why? Just scrap the machine and replace with almost anything else.
> You'll cover the cost of the new machine in short order with the savings on
> your power bill.

Hobbyists, same as alpha, hppa, m68k, sh and any other such
architectures that have no real use in this day and age.

Jess