On Saturday, May 17, 2014, 8:52:55 AM, Christian Zigotzky wrote:
A-EON had sold a lot of new PA6T systems
(
http://www.a-eon.com/?page=nemo), last year. And there are lot of PA6T
systems to buy
(
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=...).
It would be a pity to remove ppc32 support because 64-bit packages won't
work. The PA6T is not compatible (enough) to Power5 or newer which is
the minimum requirement for 64-bit Fedora to work.
ppc64 is focussing on modern 64-bit architecture levels, and likely
wants to exploit the new instruction sets for best performance. That
is entirely reasonable.
Some questions:
1) Is the PA6T Linux kernel that you have 32-bit, or 64 bit?
2) Could the PA6T, PowerMac G5, and older IBM pSeries use a common
64-bit kernel, built at a lower arch level?
- PA Semi Dual-core PA6T-1682M is Power ISA v2.04
- My PowerMac G5 has an (IBM?) PowerPC 970 - Power ISA v2.02
- Alex's IBM pSeries 610 (Model 6C1) is POWER3-II
Such a kernel would support a 32-bit chroot environment suitable for
initial ppc32 builds and development. Alternatively, multiple kernels
would allow sharing the lowest common denominator 64-bit minimal core
functionality but allow the G5 and PA6T to better exploit the
hardware.
Supporting this seems like a reasonable parallel goal to build up core
functionality for the lower architecture 64-bit processors, distinct
from the mainstream ppc64. It would require a distinct arch name for
the common (P3) and slightly higher (G5 and PA6T) levels - perhaps
ppc64p3, ppc64g5 and ppc64pa6t respectively.
That being said, I'd still like the ppc32 support be the primary focus
for the common user-land code that does not *have* to be 64-bit.
Note that a resurrected ppc32 Fedora would return to building in
32-bit chroots running under a mainstream ppc64 build in whatever
modern hardware Fedora would make available. Similarly, the ppc64p3
would be built in 64-bit chroots (like mainstream ppc64, but using
distinct build options).
Please don't remove the ppc32 support. I like Fedora very much
and it
would be a very pity to remove the ppc32 support.
It is basically gone, until we can bring it back.
The good news is that since Fedora ppc32 used the chroot environment
for the builds, we don't have the worry that ppc32-specific build
hardware is being scrapped.