Re: [PATCH v2 07/19] ARM: update DEPRECATED_PARAM_STRUCT removal timeline

[Ralph Siemsen]

On Thu, Jul 02, 2026 at 07:36:02AM +0200, Arnd Bergmann wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 2, 2026, at 02:54, Ethan Nelson-Moore wrote:
> > Hi, Arnd,
> >
> > On Wed, Jul 1, 2026 at 2:25 PM Arnd Bergmann <arnd@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > This configuration option is for the older boot method that preceeded
> > > ATAGS. This was scheduled for removal back in 2001, but the removal
> > > never happened, presumably because nobody cared enough to actually do it,
> > > not because there are any users left.
> >
> > Only netwinder_defconfig selects this option. Do the most recent
> > NetWinder firmware versions actually need it? (LinusW, do you know
> > this?) If not, can't we just drop it entirely?

Support for ATAG was added in firmware v2.0.6 in roughly Jan 1999, 
meanwhile the most recent firmware is v2.3.3 (still 20+ years old).

It is quite safe to disable support for the older parameter method.

> If all StrongARM platforms are on the way out after the LTS kernel,
> I don't see a need to remove this any earlier, even if the chance
> that it's still needed is low.

Also agree with this, might as well remove it all in one go.

Regards,
Ralph