Subject: Re: Advice on adding support for a new Platform
To: None <Richard.Earnshaw@buzzard.freeserve.co.uk>
From: Ben Harris <bjh21@netbsd.org>
List: port-arm
Date: 06/07/2001 23:12:06
On Thu, 7 Jun 2001, Richard Earnshaw wrote:

> BTW, I think it is probably a mistake to name some of the cpus after the
> basic core name (arm6, arm7, arm8 etc).  Cores don't have MMUs or caches,
> and NetBSD only runs on a core with a MMU.  It would be better to name the
> ports after the full cpu-name (6x0, 710, 710T, 920 etc), then it would be
> clear that the code works for that core+mmu combination.

The problem with that is that we either end up with CPU_ARM710T covering
both the 710T and the 720T (and the same for the other cores), or with a
profusion of options that do the same thing.

It's true that (e.g.) CPU_ARM7TDMI won't support all ARM7TDMI-base CPUs,
but I believe it will support all the ones that NetBSD has any hope of
running on.  If we ever do handle MMU-less machines, or have FCSE support,
I think those should be orthogonal options.

-- 
Ben Harris                                                   <bjh21@netbsd.org>
Portmaster, NetBSD/arm26               <URL:http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/arm26/>