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Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2024 15:39:52 +0200
From: Michael Niedermayer <michael@niedermayer.cc>
To: FFmpeg development discussions and patches <ffmpeg-devel@ffmpeg.org>
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Subject: Re: [FFmpeg-devel] remove DEC Alpha DSP & support code
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On Tue, Jun 11, 2024 at 02:26:37PM +0300, R=E9mi Denis-Courmont wrote:
>=20
>=20
> Le 11 juin 2024 12:59:23 GMT+03:00, Michael Niedermayer <michael@niederma=
yer.cc> a =E9crit=A0:
> >On Mon, Jun 10, 2024 at 08:52:08PM -0400, Sean McGovern wrote:
> >[...]
> >> Are there any real concerns about the Alpha removal itself?
> >> People still wanting to use FFmpeg for hardware that old can stick
> >> with 7.0 (and fork it if they like -- that's the beauty of FOSS).
> >
> >Loosing security support, sounds not viable, so if alpha is removed
> >the question what that would do to users (aka performance and does it
> >work/build after the patchset) is still an open question ...
>=20
> What supported distribution would people even be getting security support=
 from? None of the mainstream distributions support Alpha anymore. So if (g=
eneric) you care about security support that architecture simply isn't viab=
le, regardless of FFmpeg.
>

> Also if security really is the concern, then using the supported plain C =
code of FFmpeg seems safer than using unmaintained SIMD optimisations.

security wise, the risk for something like alpha is generic
architecture unspecific attacks. The probability of an attack specific to a=
lpha SIMD is
very low even if there is an issue in that code, which in itself isnt that =
likely
because its unlikely anyone will design an attack specific for ffmpeg SIMD =
on alpha


>=20
> >Also theres the question about how few people would be affected and what
> >we gain from this?
>=20
> Most likely zero people are affected. Unfortunately, I guess that the onl=
y way to know for sure is to remove the support and see if anyone complains=
 about it then.

I doubt thats a reliable way to get feedback


>=20
> Another option is to post on the website news that Alpha will be removed =
if nobody steps up.  I don't think that's a very good use of the website's =
attention though.

If we want reliable statistics, it would be needed to have at build or runt=
ime
a question to the user if they are ok with a "ping" to the server for usage
statistics. This could be limited to architectures we intend to remove

That said, did configure print any removal warning before this ?


>=20
> >> It is worth mentioning that even Debian hasn't supported Alpha (along
> >> with several other architectures) since release 8.0 in June 2018.
> >
> >I think debian dropped alpha from the officially supported architectures
> >but it seems there is still some inofficial support:
> >https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/12.0/alpha/
>=20
> To be precise, Alpha and HPPA were moved to Debian Ports in 2018 after th=
ey were dropped from the official archives. They have remained with only un=
stable support since then, which indicates that they are essentially moribu=
nd. Re-emerging from ports is infeasible for a purely legacy architecture.

I dont know what the file is but it says
debian-12.0.0-alpha-NETINST-1.iso	2023-05-16 09:04

debian 12 is the latest release of debian AFAIK

thx

[...]
--=20
Michael     GnuPG fingerprint: 9FF2128B147EF6730BADF133611EC787040B0FAB

It is a danger to trust the dream we wish for rather than
the science we have, -- Dr. Kenneth Brown

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