# \[PATCH\] powerpc: Remove buggy 9-year-old test for binutils \< 2.12.1

- Subsystems: LINUX FOR POWERPC (32-BIT AND 64-BIT), THE REST
- Maintainers: Madhavan Srinivasan, Linus Torvalds
- List: linuxppc-dev
- 1 message, 1 author
- Page: https://ratatoskr.run/linuxppc-dev/2011/11/3783850/t

## \[PATCH\] powerpc: Remove buggy 9-year-old test for binutils \< 2.12.1

- From: Kyle Moffett \<hidden\>
- Date: 2011-11-07 23:31:32 
- Message: https://ratatoskr.run/linuxppc-dev/2011/11/3783850.md

```text
Recent binutils refuses to assemble AltiVec opcodes when in e500/SPE
mode, as some of those opcodes alias the "SPE" instructions.  This
triggers an ancient binutils version check even when building a kernel
with CONFIG_ALTIVEC disabled.

In theory, the check could be conditionalized on CONFIG_ALTIVEC, but in
practice it has long outlived its utility.  It is virtually impossible
to find binutils older than 2.12.1 (released 2002) in the wild anymore.
Even ancient RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 has binutils-2.14.

To fix the kernel build when done natively on e500 systems with this new
binutils, the test is simply removed.

Signed-off-by: Kyle Moffett <redacted>
---
 arch/powerpc/Makefile |    6 ------
 1 files changed, 0 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/powerpc/Makefile b/arch/powerpc/Makefile
index 57af16e..70ba0c0 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/Makefile
+++ b/arch/powerpc/Makefile
@@ -255,12 +255,6 @@ checkbin:
 		echo 'disable kernel modules' ; \
 		false ; \
 	fi
-	@if ! /bin/echo dssall | $(AS) -many -o $(TOUT) >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then \
-		echo -n '*** ${VERSION}.${PATCHLEVEL} kernels no longer build ' ; \
-		echo 'correctly with old versions of binutils.' ; \
-		echo '*** Please upgrade your binutils to 2.12.1 or newer' ; \
-		false ; \
-	fi
 
 CLEAN_FILES += $(TOUT)
 
-- 
1.7.2.5
```