deprecated handling: introduce BR2_DEPRECATED_SINCE_xxxx_xx

In order to keep better track of when a feature got deprecated, and hence
when it can be removed, a new set of symbols BR2_DEPRECATED_SINCE_xxxx_xx is
introduced. These symbols are automatically selected when BR2_DEPRECATED is
selected, and thus are transparent to the user.
A deprecated feature will no longer depend on BR2_DEPRECATED directly, but
rather on the appropriate BR2_DEPRECATED_SINCE_xxxx_xx. If that symbol does
not yet exist, it has to be created in Config.in.
When removing a deprecated feature, one should also check whether this was
the last feature using the BR2_DEPRECATED_SINCE_xxxx_xx symbol, in which
case the latter can be removed from Config.in.

A followup patch will make sure the overview is added to the list of
deprecated features in the manual, so that a buildroot core developer can
easily determine which features to remove in a given development cycle.

Signed-off-by: Thomas De Schampheleire <thomas.de.schampheleire@gmail.com>
Acked-by: Arnout Vandecappelle (Essensium/Mind) <arnout@mind.be>
Signed-off-by: Peter Korsgaard <peter@korsgaard.com>

1 files changed, 3 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/support/scripts/gen-manual-lists.py b/support/scripts/gen-manual-lists.py
index 4562d7e2c..94f403e0c 100644
--- a/support/scripts/gen-manual-lists.py
+++ b/support/scripts/gen-manual-lists.py
@@ -234,7 +234,9 @@ class Buildroot:
         """ Return True if the symbol is marked as deprecated, otherwise False.
 
         """
-        return self._deprecated in symbol.get_referenced_symbols()
+        # This also catches BR2_DEPRECATED_SINCE_xxxx_xx
+        return bool([ symbol for x in symbol.get_referenced_symbols()
+            if x.get_name().startswith(self._deprecated.get_name()) ])
 
     def _is_package(self, symbol):
         """ Return True if the symbol is a package or a host package, otherwise