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64bit status report : biarch toolchain and ppc64 debian kernel.



Hello,

just a small status update here,

as of 2.6.12-4, there is one powerpc64 flavour build, which supports all ppc64
hardware, is SMP-only (we will no longer build non-smp kernels), and doesn't
enable POWER4_ONLY. dinstall should run over it this evening, but it may be in
the NEW queue for a bit, not sure, altough in any case this doesn't take long
these days.

I am also uploading a new set of debian-installer .udeb modules, so we will
have both 32bit powerpc and 64bit powerpc64 flavours here, and subsequently
will set the daily builds to generate the images for it.

I am unsure about the pertinence of making another flavour which enables
POWER4_ONLY, since i am told (on #ppc64) that none of the other distribs do
it, and that it will not bring any performance benefit for it. I would like to
hear from those who want a POWER4_ONLY flavour what the justification for it
are.

There is also the matter of legacy-iseries, i have no tester for this
hardware, but it may be possible to enable a debian kernel for it, and i will
probably do so for the 2.6.13 kernels, not sure though. Also, feedback on
legacy-iseries (pre-power5 ones) are welcome.

So, once we have the toolchain, a kernel and debian-installer, the next step
is to think about the 64bit userland, and what to do about Andreas Jochens
pure-64 effort.

My idea was to have chosen libraries and applications rebuild for 64bit, and
parallel installable to normal 32bit ones, but i am probably not best placed
to make the choice of those, so it would be usefull for all of you to mention
the packages you think would need 64bit optimization. But as i don't really
have 64bit hardware, it would be nice for 64bit users to take over here. And
Andreas, if you could switch your effort from the pure-64bit way to this, it
would be greatly appreciated.

Also, i guess we need to find a common naming scheme, apending 64 somewhere in
the name of the packages or something.

Oh, and also, we still miss NPTL in the glibc build, but i guess as we are
moving forward, this will come soon now.

Friendly,

Sven Luther



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