In-tree Python tools (patman, buildman, binman, etc.)

[Simon Glass]

Hi,

As you know, I maintain several tools which are part of the U-Boot tree.

Tom has previously suggested that it would be better to move patman
out of the U-Boot tree, e.g. to its own Github project. It is a
general tool which can be used with Linux and other
mailing-list/patchwork-based projects. I have never been keen on
taking on the extra effort required, but I've recently added more
features and am wondering whether now might be a good time to do this.

Buildman is quite obviously designed specifically for U-Boot. I have
made some improvements recently (a large code refactor and distributed
builds). I would like to push those changes to mainline. Do people
think it should be in a separate tree somewhere?

Binman was written with U-Boot in mind but supports other projects
(such as Zephyr). It is generic enough that it could be separated. The
impact would be harder code review.

We also have smaller things like qconfig (which I have substantially
rewritten to make it fast) and dtoc, which is very tailored to U-Boot.

What do people think? Of all of these, patman would be the easiest to
move, with the least impact on existing workflows.

Regards,
Simon