The SPARC target

[Mark Kettenis <kettenis@chello.nl>]

Folks,

The SPARC target has been unmaintained for quite some time now[1]
(since november 2001) and it shows.  It doesn't compile on FreeBSD,
and running the testsuite on FreeBSD/sparc64 (after fixing it),
Solaris 2.8 and NetBSD/sparc results in hundreds of unexpected
failures with quite a few unresolved testcases.  I think the target is
bordering on (un)usability.

It's obvious what's wrong: the code is in a very bad shape.  It's
deprecation and obsoletion everywhere.  It's gotten to a point where
*I* can't make any sense out of it anymore.  Instead of fixing the old
broken code, I started implementing a FreeBSD/sparc64 target from
scratch.  Even though my work isn't finished yet, it already does a
better job than the existing SPARC target.  Of course it uses the new
unwinder framework.  I hope to be able to finish it in the coming
weeks, and check it in alongide the old code.  The new target is
64-bit only (which is fine for FreeBSD/sparc64), but I have
anticipated on writing the 32-bit bits.  When those are ready I intend
to convert all "active" SPARC targets to use the new code, replacing
the old 32-bit code with the new 32-bit code.  Unfortunately, I won't
be able to test all SPARC targets.  As a result we'll probably end up
with a number of broken SPARC targets.  Consider this message as a
HEADS UP.

Mark

[1] Maintenance only since november 2001 according to the CVS hostory
of the MAINTAINERS file.