> In mainline linux, XIP support on RISC-V was removed, so 6.12 was used instead which has proper XIP support.

Doesn't that put it in an awkward position relying on a dead end feature?

What I remember was they said it could come back if people needed it but it was broken for looking (months, years) at a time. So even if they didn't remove it, 6.12 might be the last working version with it anyway