From:   Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>
To:     linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Cc:     Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>, Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>,
        Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>, Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com>,
        Jessica Clarke <jrtc27@jrtc27.com>,
        John Paul Adrian Glaubitz <glaubitz@physik.fu-berlin.de>,
        Matthew Wilcox <willy@infradead.org>,
        Marc Zyngier <maz@kernel.org>,
        Guenter Roeck <linux@roeck-us.net>,
        Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>,
        linux-ia64@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [RFC PATCH] MAINTAINERS: Mark Itanium/IA64 as 'dead'
Date:   Sat, 28 Jan 2023 13:29:04 +0100
Message-Id: <20230128122904.1345120-1-ardb@kernel.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Precedence: bulk

Create a new status 'dead' which conveys that a subsystem is
unmaintained and scheduled for removal, and developers are free to
behave as if it's already gone. Also, automated build tests should
ignore such subsystems, or at least notify only those who are known to
have an interest in the subsystem in particular.

Given that Itanium/IA64 has no maintainer, is no longer supported in
QEMU (for boot testing under emulation) and does not seem to have a user
base beyond a couple of machines used by distros to churn out packages,
let's mark it as dead. This shall mean that any treewide changes (such
as changes to the EFI subsystem, which I maintain) can be made even if
they might cause build or boot time regressions on IA64 machines. Also,
mark the port as scheduled for removal after the next LTS release.

Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Cc: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
Cc: Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com>
Cc: Jessica Clarke <jrtc27@jrtc27.com>
Cc: John Paul Adrian Glaubitz <glaubitz@physik.fu-berlin.de>
Cc: Matthew Wilcox <willy@infradead.org>
Cc: Marc Zyngier <maz@kernel.org>
Cc: Guenter Roeck <linux@roeck-us.net>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: linux-ia64@vger.kernel.org
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/CAMj1kXEqbMEcrKYzz2-huLPMnotPoxFY8adyH=Xb4Ex8o98x-w@mail.gmail.com/
Signed-off-by: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>
---
 MAINTAINERS | 10 +++++++++-
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index 5b74014994f5c1cc..5481967c2112e8ce 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -94,6 +94,14 @@ Descriptions of section entries and preferred order
 	   Obsolete:	Old code. Something tagged obsolete generally means
 			it has been replaced by a better system and you
 			should be using that.
+	   Dead:	Code has no maintainer and no significant user base,
+			and is scheduled for removal. Developers are free to
+			ignore it when it comes to testing bug fixes or other
+			code changes, and automated build test systems must not
+			report any detected issues, except possibly to mailing
+			lists or other recipients that have opted in
+			specifically to receiving reports about the state of
+			this code.
 	W: *Web-page* with status/info
 	Q: *Patchwork* web based patch tracking system site
 	B: URI for where to file *bugs*. A web-page with detailed bug
@@ -9833,7 +9841,7 @@ F:	include/linux/i3c/
 
 IA64 (Itanium) PLATFORM
 L:	linux-ia64@vger.kernel.org
-S:	Orphan
+S:	Dead # to be removed after the 2023 LTS release
 F:	Documentation/ia64/
 F:	arch/ia64/
 
-- 
2.39.0