For running QEMU in system emulation mode, the user needs a rather
strong host system, i.e. not only an embedded low-frequency controller.
All recent beefy arm host machines should support 64-bit now, it's
unlikely that anybody is still seriously using QEMU on a 32-bit arm
CPU, so we deprecate the 32-bit arm hosts here to finally save use
some time and precious CI minutes.

Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
---
 docs/about/deprecated.rst | 9 +++++++++
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)

diff --git a/docs/about/deprecated.rst b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
index 21ce70b5c9..c7113a7510 100644
--- a/docs/about/deprecated.rst
+++ b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
@@ -229,6 +229,15 @@ discontinue it. Since all recent x86 hardware from the past >10 years
 is capable of the 64-bit x86 extensions, a corresponding 64-bit OS
 should be used instead.
 
+System emulation on 32-bit arm hosts (since 8.0)
+''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
+
+Since QEMU needs a strong host machine for running full system emulation, and
+all recent powerful arm hosts support 64-bit, the QEMU project deprecates the
+support for running any system emulation on 32-bit arm hosts in general. Use
+64-bit arm hosts for system emulation instead. (Note: "user" mode emulation
+continuous to be supported on 32-bit arm hosts, too)
+
 
 QEMU API (QAPI) events
 ----------------------
-- 
2.31.1

On Thu, 2023-03-02 at 17:31 +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
> For running QEMU in system emulation mode, the user needs a rather
> strong host system, i.e. not only an embedded low-frequency
> controller.
> All recent beefy arm host machines should support 64-bit now, it's
> unlikely that anybody is still seriously using QEMU on a 32-bit arm
> CPU, so we deprecate the 32-bit arm hosts here to finally save use
> some time and precious CI minutes.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
> ---
>  docs/about/deprecated.rst | 9 +++++++++
>  1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)
Reviewed-by: Wilfred Mallawa <wilfred.mallawa@wdc.com>
> 
> diff --git a/docs/about/deprecated.rst b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> index 21ce70b5c9..c7113a7510 100644
> --- a/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> +++ b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> @@ -229,6 +229,15 @@ discontinue it. Since all recent x86 hardware
> from the past >10 years
>  is capable of the 64-bit x86 extensions, a corresponding 64-bit OS
>  should be used instead.
>  
> +System emulation on 32-bit arm hosts (since 8.0)
> +''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
> +
> +Since QEMU needs a strong host machine for running full system
> emulation, and
> +all recent powerful arm hosts support 64-bit, the QEMU project
> deprecates the
> +support for running any system emulation on 32-bit arm hosts in
> general. Use
> +64-bit arm hosts for system emulation instead. (Note: "user" mode
> emulation
> +continuous to be supported on 32-bit arm hosts, too)
> +
>  
>  QEMU API (QAPI) events
>  ----------------------

On Thu, Mar 02, 2023 at 05:31:05PM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
> For running QEMU in system emulation mode, the user needs a rather
> strong host system, i.e. not only an embedded low-frequency controller.
> All recent beefy arm host machines should support 64-bit now, it's
> unlikely that anybody is still seriously using QEMU on a 32-bit arm
> CPU, so we deprecate the 32-bit arm hosts here to finally save use
> some time and precious CI minutes.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
> ---
>  docs/about/deprecated.rst | 9 +++++++++
>  1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)

Reviewed-by: Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange@redhat.com>

> diff --git a/docs/about/deprecated.rst b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> index 21ce70b5c9..c7113a7510 100644
> --- a/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> +++ b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> @@ -229,6 +229,15 @@ discontinue it. Since all recent x86 hardware from the past >10 years
>  is capable of the 64-bit x86 extensions, a corresponding 64-bit OS
>  should be used instead.
>  
> +System emulation on 32-bit arm hosts (since 8.0)
> +''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
> +
> +Since QEMU needs a strong host machine for running full system emulation, and
> +all recent powerful arm hosts support 64-bit, the QEMU project deprecates the
> +support for running any system emulation on 32-bit arm hosts in general. Use
> +64-bit arm hosts for system emulation instead. (Note: "user" mode emulation
> +continuous to be supported on 32-bit arm hosts, too)

s/continuous/continues/

s/,too/, as well as command line tools like qemu-img, qemu-nbd, etc/

> +
>  
>  QEMU API (QAPI) events
>  ----------------------
> -- 
> 2.31.1
> 

With regards,
Daniel
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