Re: volunteer

[Eric Delaunay <delaunay@lix.polytechnique.fr>]

simon mackinlay wrote:
> Hi - I have a spare IPC which I'm using as a sparc-linux
> testbed machine, which I've recently installed using the
> publicly available disks-sparc/ and binary-sparc/ trees
> on ftp.debian.org.
> 
> I have about a 2-3 month window to play with this machine,
> and I'd like to help the debian-sparc effort by rebuilding
> packages from the debian-source tree.
> 
> Is this going to be a worthwhile project, or are there
> already sufficient contributors?

IMHO before uploading packages to debian-sparc we should move to glibc-2
(libc6).  In fact, debian-2.0 will be based on glibc-2, so we have to upload
packages twice if we build them first with libc5.
I'm working on packaging a development release of glibc I will upload as soon
as possible.
Next package to upload will be gcc 2.7.2.2 to be able to compile & link with
libc6.
When these packages will be available, it'll be time to rebuild all other
packages.

In meantime, there is at least one package that needs to be hacked: util-linux.
I found a 2.6 release on tsx-11 but announcement says it supports x86
platforms & includes patches for m68k & alpha ports only.  We should also add
support for sparc and send patches back to mainstream maintainer for further
release.
I did some work on it but have no time now to continue.
I've got patches from RedHat for 2.5 release then merged it to 2.5 sources
from Debian.  I also fixed some stuff myself.  I sent back patches to Debian
maintainer but, as far as I know, he did'nt included them in its package.
Now 2.6 is out, so sparc support have to be included again.
Would you work on it?  I can send you my patches against 2.5 to start
your development.

Bye.

-- 
 Eric Delaunay                 | "La guerre justifie l'existence des militaires.
 delaunay@lix.polytechnique.fr | En les supprimant." Henri Jeanson (1900-1970)


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