GCC 11 Compiler Could End Up Removing Support For The Motorola m68k, Other Old CPUs

Deprecated for the upcoming GCC 10 compiler release and set for removal in GCC 11 one year later is the CC0 representation code that is being used for handle condition codes in GCC back-ends. That in turn means a number of older CPU targets will be removed in GCC 11 should they not receive some development attention to transition them to the modern MODE_CC representation.

Announced at the end of September (but flying under our radar until now) is the cc0 representation is deprecated with GCC 10 and then set for removal in GCC 11. The GCC 11 removal includes targets still using cc0 representation like avr (AVR micro-controller), cris (the Axis Communications' ETRAX CRIS embedded processors), h8300 (the Renesas H8 microcontrollers), m68k (the Motorola 68000 series), vax (DEC VAX), and cr16 (National Semi CompactRISC).

The targets affected are all old processor targets namely from the 90's and no longer seeing much code activity in GCC and thus their risk to removal. From that list, the Motorola m68k still has some following and even sees the occasional kernel changes for the likes of the Apple PowerBook. For the m68k support there is an independent bounty of more than $5k USD so far in trying to find someone able and interested to convert the back-end to MODE_CC so the m68k support wouldn't be on the chopping block. But we'll see if/when these targets get updated.

The deprecation/removal of cc0 is explained in more details on the GCC Wiki. The future of GCC's m68k support has been brought up again in this mailing list thread.