[Libre-soc-bugs] [Bug 673] Port power-instruction-analyzer to use new asm! macro instead of to-be-removed llvm_asm! macro

[bugzilla-daemon at libre-soc.org]

https://bugs.libre-soc.org/show_bug.cgi?id=673

--- Comment #8 from Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <lkcl at lkcl.net> ---
(In reply to Jacob Lifshay from comment #6)
> (In reply to Jacob Lifshay from comment #5)
> > (In reply to Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton from comment #4)
> > > if this is for rust then no.
> 
> I think it's worth paying for this work, because, since pia is currently
> necessary, maintaining it is very much part of what libre-soc is funded to
> do.

that is precisely and exactly one of the many reasons why it has to go.
the fact that it has a maintenance cost AT ALL, one that was NOT evaluated
or discussed, that IS the costly mistake which we made.

when the decision to evaluate funding of pia was done, we did not
know enough to say whether it would even HAVE a maintenance burden,
and so there was no planning.

the fact that a cost has EMERGED severely interferes with the Project
Planning.

remember: NLnet Grants take about **SIX MONTHS** to become active,
and **CANNOT** be retroactively modified.

if we make a planning mistake like this it is extremely serious.

code that is written in python on the other hand will continue to
function and be portable.


please listen to what i am saying: the fact that pia failed to compile
for a new developer and, six weeks later they still cannot get it installed,
i have explained already that this is unacceptable.

pia has beeen an important learning exercise and the sooner it is removed
and replaced the better.

it is sufficiently urgent that Dmitry be able to run unit tests that i
am happy to put up a budget of EUR 200 to make it optional to install.

i am not happy - at all - to put further NLnet funding towards something
that has demonstrate in multiple ways that it is too much of a headache
to continue to fund.


> Also, some of the work also helps out with implementing Kazan, since Kazan
> will probably need inline assembly.

then that can be justified when some work on Kazan takes place.
no work on Kazan has taken place in over 18 months.

(In reply to Jacob Lifshay from comment #7)

> it's just as portable between python versions as numpy...which no one's
> complained about afaict

1) numpy is maintained by a large team that has other people paying for it.

2) it is also not a dependency.

3) it is also a mature and stable library,

4) it uses a stable programming language with a mature well defined
   release cycle that is integrated into distros

   ("Rust's llvm_asm! macro was never intended to be stabilized")

there are many other reasons why this is an invalid perspective
which actually helps illustrate why pia should be removed and replaced.

(In reply to Jacob Lifshay from comment #5)

> well, python doesn't have inline assembly...

then we find a way to do that (in a way that does NOT include rust
or any rust tools or any rust libraries or any other dependencies
which are not already used).

i am happy to put up a budget to find out how that can be done.

please understand and accept the seriousness of the lesson that
has been learned from the incident where new developers were
unable to use the automated install scripts.

and the many other reasons all of which combine to sound a massive
alarm bell that pia has to go.

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