Hey all,
(I had attempted to bcc this to all listed maintainer, but that upset Google greatly. I'll send this out manually instead later).
I'd like to put this out here for custodians and maintainers to consider, especially in light of the device model work that's not just coming but has already started being posted.
One of the keys to the success of U-Boot has been the number of platforms that are supported. But part of supporting platforms is needing people to volunteer to maintain them long term and help with testing changes and so forth. So first of all, I've just tagged v2012.10-rc1. Please give this at least a basic test on whatever platforms you're able to.
Second, with this, my next branch is now open and I'd like to start it by asking that platforms that people wish to abandon be removed. With the device model, lots of code will need adjusting and while it's mechanical in ways, it still needs to be run-time tested. And it's changes that someone must do. I know others have suggested adding or better publicizing our to-remove file. But one of the advantages of git is that it's easy to bring platforms back, should someone later wish to bring it back. But this also requires the removal to be done cleanly.
All of that said, I would like to stress that if you maintain a platform and you wish to help with the testing and perhaps even the conversion effort, no matter the age of the platform it would be welcome and appreciated.
And finally, if everyone really wants to go another direction with old platforms, I'm open to discussion of course. I just want to miminize work done on platforms that aren't active and we don't know if they will come back.