I've been worrying about MIPS configuration names a little more
recently. This is obvious, but the GNU configuration scheme works
poorly for MIPS, since the configuration has to select CPU, ISA, ASE
and ABI. When the scheme was designed the CPU implied the ISA and the
ABI. For MIPS the CPU does of course imply the ISA and ASE, but
historical usage, plus a desire for the ability to compile programs
which run on generic chips, has led people to specify the ISA and ASE
in the configuration name, rather than the CPU.