Ubuntu flash-kernel Package Looks To Drop Support For Old ARM Hardware

The flash-kernel package is used for putting the Linux kernel image and initramfs in the boot location for embedded devices that aren't able to boot directly from /boot. The flash-kernel package is particularly important for older ARM hardware while now Ubuntu maintainers are looking at dropping patches they currently carry for a number of aging ARM platforms.

Not only does old hardware support clutter the kernel source tree as frequently encountered, but also in other packages. The latest old hardware cleaning going on is around Ubuntu's flash-kernel package that makes a number of ARM platforms bootable for Ubuntu Linux.

Dave Jones at Canonical is looking at dropping a number of their oldest patches for hardware that is no longer supported by the vendors and in all likelihood not actively used by Ubuntu users either. The list of targets likely to be removed include:

* Asus NovaGo TP370QL (Qualcomm Snapdragon 835)
* Calxeda ECX-2000
* Calxeda Highbank
* Google Nexus 4 (Mako)
* Google Nexus 7 (Grouper)
* HP Enxy x2 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 835)
* HP ProLiant m400 (moonshot)
* Marvell Armada XP
* QCT APQ8064 CDP (Qualcomm Snapdragon S4)
* Samsung SD5v1 (Exynos 5440)
* Samsung SSDK5440 (Exynos 5440)
* TI OMAP3
* TI OMAP4
* Wandboard IMX6 Quad

Ahhh.... The old Texas Instruments OMAP4 days with the likes of the PandaBoards. The early Google Nexus devices... And the once promising Calxeda ARM servers.

This Ubuntu-devel thread is currently discussing the prospects of removing these old ARM targets from the Ubuntu flash-kernel support.