Re: Is there a powerpc64 machine to test some ports on?

Mathieu Arnold <mat_at_freebsd.org> wrote on
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2024 05:49:15 UTC :

> On Fri, Oct 18, 2024 at 10:19:33AM +0200, Ronald Klop wrote:
> > Thanks for the quick feedback.
> > 
> > I applied for the OSUOSL project. But I don't see any FreeBSD project on the website. It looks very Linux oriented. Let's see if it works out.
> > 
> > NB: the last powerpc64 package build looks to be from February '24. Which makes me wonder if there is real interest in powerpc ports/packages or that I should spend my time somewhere else as I don't even have the hardware myself.
> 
> I would say it is up to you, if you have the time and are willing, go
> for it, otherwise, there will be more important things to do :
> 
> According to this <https://www.freebsd.org/platforms/>, powerpc64 is
> Tier-2 in 13.x and 14.x, and will not be supported in 15.

As far as TARGET_ARCH goes . . .
powerpc64 and powerpc64le stay Tier 2 according to that page.
It is 32-bit powerpc and powerpcspe that become unsupported:

Platform                     TARGET_ARCH 13.x   14.x   Projected 15.x
32-bit PowerPC               powerpc     Tier 2 Tier 2 Unsupported
32-bit PowerPC with SPE      powerpcspe  Tier 2 Tier 2 Unsupported
64-bit PowerPC big-endian    powerpc64   Tier 2 Tier 2 Tier 2
64-bit PowerPC little-endian powerpc64le Tier 2 Tier 2 Tier 2

> According to this <https://docs.freebsd.org/en/articles/committers-guide/#_tier_2_developmental_and_niche_architectures> :
> 
> Tier 2 platforms are functional, but less mature FreeBSD platforms.
> They are not supported by the security officer, release engineering,
> and Ports Management Team.
> 
> The ports infrastructure should include basic support for Tier 2
> architectures sufficient to support building ports and packages.
> This includes support for basic packages such as ports-mgmt/pkg, but
> there is no guarantee that arbitrary ports will be buildable or
> functional.

===
Mark Millard
marklmi at yahoo.com