netdev - Re: [PATCH net-next] pcnet32: remove VLB support

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Message-ID: <alpine.DEB.2.21.2601110027520.30566@angie.orcam.me.uk>
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:40:56 +0000 (GMT)
From: "Maciej W. Rozycki" <macro@...am.me.uk>
To: Simon Horman <horms@...nel.org>
cc: Thomas Bogendoerfer <tsbogend@...ha.franken.de>, 
    Ethan Nelson-Moore <enelsonmoore@...il.com>, linux-mips@...r.kernel.org, 
    netdev@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH net-next] pcnet32: remove VLB support

[+cc Thomas, linux-mips]

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026, Simon Horman wrote:

> > This allows the code managing device instances to be simplified
> > significantly. The VLB bus is very obsolete and last appeared on
> > P5 Pentium-era hardware. Support for it has been removed from
> > other drivers, and it is highly unlikely anyone is using it with
> > modern Linux kernels.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Ethan Nelson-Moore <enelsonmoore@...il.com>
> 
> Hi Ethan,
> 
> I don't think this driver has received much attention for some time.
> So, unless you have hardware to test changes on, I would suggest
> either leaving it alone or, if we suspect there are no users,
> removing it.

 You mean discarding the whole of drivers/net/ethernet/amd/pcnet32.c?  If 
so, then it's a hard NAK from me.  It's the onboard/netboot interface of 
the MIPS Malta platform and it continues being used regularly, primarily 
with QEMU setups, although I have actual Malta hardware in my lab too, 
usually running 24/7.  It's one of the primary MIPS plaforms, cf. 
arch/mips/configs/malta_defconfig.

 No attention means the driver just works, why wouldn't it?  It's no 
rocket science.  FWIW I continue using several drivers that saw little to 
no change recently across various platforms.

 As to VLB support, I guess nobody cares nowadays.  I used to have such a 
system, but haven't seen one in some three decades now and never used this 
driver with one.

  Maciej