Deprecate legacy libarm_compute_core

This library is an artifact of Compute Library's legacy library architecture and no longer serves any purpose.

Users must no longer link their applications to this library and instead link only to the main `libarm_compute` library to maintain full functionality.

Resolves: COMPMID-6300

Change-Id: I7c222f511174ce9b0cfde94cf8f90da4a89f2a8b
Signed-off-by: Jakub Sujak <jakub.sujak@arm.com>
Reviewed-on: https://review.mlplatform.org/c/ml/ComputeLibrary/+/9760
Tested-by: Arm Jenkins <bsgcomp@arm.com>
Reviewed-by: Pablo Marquez Tello <pablo.tello@arm.com>
Comments-Addressed: Arm Jenkins <bsgcomp@arm.com>
Benchmark: Arm Jenkins <bsgcomp@arm.com>

3 files changed, 17 insertions, 12 deletions

diff --git a/SConscript b/SConscript
index 320cb2d6fc..be062e1d85 100644
--- a/SConscript
+++ b/SConscript
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ import zlib
 import json
 import codecs
 
+print("DEPRECATION NOTICE: Legacy libarm_compute_core has been deprecated. Link your application only to "
+      "libarm_compute for core library functionality")
+
 VERSION = "v0.0-unreleased"
 LIBRARY_VERSION_MAJOR = 31
 LIBRARY_VERSION_MINOR =  0
diff --git a/docs/user_guide/library.dox b/docs/user_guide/library.dox
index 11948d7136..4b54abed1f 100644
--- a/docs/user_guide/library.dox
+++ b/docs/user_guide/library.dox
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ///
-/// Copyright (c) 2017-2021 Arm Limited.
+/// Copyright (c) 2017-2021, 2023 Arm Limited.
 ///
 /// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 ///
@@ -28,20 +28,18 @@ namespace arm_compute
 
 @tableofcontents
 
-@section architecture_core_vs_runtime Core vs Runtime libraries
+@section architecture_compute_library Compute Library architecture
 
-The Core library is a low level collection of algorithms implementations, it is designed to be embedded in existing projects and applications:
+The Compute Library is a collection of low level algorithm implementations known as kernels @ref IKernel.
+These kernels are implemented as operators @ref IOperator that do not allocate any memory (i.e. all the memory allocations/mappings have to be handled by the caller)
+and are are designed to be embedded in existing projects and applications.
 
-- It doesn't allocate any memory (All the memory allocations/mappings have to be handled by the caller).
-- It doesn't perform any kind of multi-threading (but provide information to the caller about how the workload can be split).
+A higher-level interface wraps the operators into functions @ref IFunction that:
+- Performs memory allocation of images and tensors through the use of standard malloc().
+- Enables multi-threading of Arm® Neon™ code in a very basic way using a very simple pool of threads.
+- For OpenCL, uses the default CLScheduler command queue for all mapping operations and kernels.
 
-The Runtime library is a very basic wrapper around the Core library which can be used for quick prototyping, it is basic in the sense that:
-
-- It allocates images and tensors by using standard malloc().
-- It multi-threads Arm® Neon™ code in a very basic way using a very simple pool of threads.
-- For OpenCL it uses the default CLScheduler command queue for all mapping operations and kernels.
-
-For maximum performance, it is expected that the users would re-implement an equivalent to the runtime library which suits better their needs (With a more clever multi-threading strategy, load-balancing between Arm® Neon™ and OpenCL, etc.)
+For maximum performance, it is expected that the users would re-implement an equivalent to the function interface which suits better their needs (With a more clever multi-threading strategy, load-balancing between Arm® Neon™ and OpenCL, etc.)
 
 @section architecture_fast_math Fast-math support
 
diff --git a/docs/user_guide/release_version_and_change_log.dox b/docs/user_guide/release_version_and_change_log.dox
index 59f19d4ffd..04baaf57fa 100644
--- a/docs/user_guide/release_version_and_change_log.dox
+++ b/docs/user_guide/release_version_and_change_log.dox
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ If there is more than one release in a month then an extra sequential number is
 @note Starting from release 22.05, 'master' branch is no longer being used, it has been replaced by 'main'. Please update your clone jobs accordingly.
 
 @section S2_2_changelog Changelog
+v23.08 Public major release
+ - Deprecate the legacy 'libarm_compute_core' library. This library is an artifact of Compute Library's legacy library architecture and no longer serves any purpose.
+ Users must no longer link their applications to this library and instead link only to the main `libarm_compute` library for core functionality.
+
 v23.05 Public major release
  - New features:
    - Add new Arm® Neon™ kernels / functions: