https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=81084
--- Comment #41 from David Edelsohn <dje at gcc dot gnu.org> --- SPE mostly is a separate architecture that happens to share many of the basic mnemonics with PowerPC. Maintaining the SPE port was a burden to the Power/PowerPC maintainers. As discussed in the other threads, despite years of promises, the SPE port was not maintained, not even regular testsuite results. The communication mostly consisted of bug reports raised a year after the patch or release. In regard to IBM employee response to PowerPC targets older than Power8, you said yourself that these are IBM employees. They are directed to work on specific projects and patches. Sometimes IBM developers can become too focused on the Power8 and later issue and include portability in their design, but IBM also is not a general support center for all PowerPC. IBM is a business. As with all commercially-supported Open Source projects and all forms of work in general, some developers have broader interest in the project and others approach it as a job.
