Date: Sun, 07 Apr 2019 09:44:18 +0000
To: alpine-devel@lists.alpinelinux.org
From: Corvin Wimmer <mail@corv.in>
Reply-To: Corvin Wimmer <mail@corv.in>
Subject: Re: [alpine-devel] Should we drop armhf (armv6) support with 3.10 release?
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> On 4. Apr 2019, at 16:25, Natanael Copa <ncopa@alpinelinux.org> wrote:
>=20
> Hi,
>=20
> I wonder if can drop armhf (armv6) support with the 3.10 release, now
> that we have armv7?
>=20
> In practice it means that we no longer support Raspberry PI 1 and Zero.
>=20
> We will still support those with alpine v3.9 for another year.
>=20
> I believe dropping armhf (armv6) will save some resources when it comes
> to managing build servers, disk space, spending time on fixing armhf
> specific problems.
>=20
> We may also optimize the vanilla kernel better for armv7, which
> currently uses same config as armv6.
>=20
> What do you think, can we drop armhf for v3.10 or should we wait til
> v3.11?
>=20
> -nc
>=20
>=20
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>=20

Dear Nathanael, Alpine developers and users,

We have been happily using the armhf / armv6 images for our project after s=
witching from Raspbian for 6 months now.=20

The fact that Alpine is so lightweight and able to run from RAM makes it a =
perfect fit for SBCs and other embedded low-powered devices. We find it esp=
ecially convenient that an identical image can be built for every Raspberry=
 Pi on the market.

Honestly, the roadmap has taken us by surprise and we might not have chosen=
 Alpine had we known that support for Raspberry Zero was being dropped this=
 soon.

We fully understand that Alpine has limited resources and you want to focus=
 where it matters.=20

In my humble opinion, it would be wonderful to see support for alternative =
architectures such as ARM and RISC be increased rather than reduced.=20

Alpine has been a breath of fresh air and we would very much like to contin=
ue building on top of this unique distribution. We are fully committed to A=
lpine and plan to upstream patches to installation scripts and continue to =
help improve Raspberry support where we can.

Please let me know if there are specific resources the project is worried a=
bout where we could help. I would be delighted to continue working with Alp=
ine for as long as possible.=20

In any case, I=E2=80=99d like to extend my thanks to you and the other deve=
lopers for their contributions.

Regards,
Corvin Wimmer


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