Hi,
the Gentoo/PPC team had a meeting from 19UTC until 20:30UTC.
topics:
1) toolchain switch for 2006.1
2) other upgrades for 2006.1
3) open discussion
We decided to make a toolchain-switch for 2006.1 and upgrade
to gcc-4.1.1 along with glibc-2.4. Quite all ppc devs made
tests with that toolchain during the last months and
reported only some slight issues with strict-aliasing. It's
possible to compile (quite) everything without any further
stable-version bumps in the tree.
Every application with strict-aliasing-issues should be
fixed in the ebuild by adding -fno-strict-aliasing to the
CFLAGS. As every arch beside x86 is affected, this does not
need an 'if ppc'. And even on x86 there are no problems
with adding this option. If there are newer versions of
applications in the tree which are fixed by upstream
already, they should be preferred and marked stable. Any
other application should be reported upstream beside the fix
in the ebuild.
We will create a new 2006.1 profile with the new toolchain
as default. The 2006.0 profile will mask >=gcc-4 and
>=glibc-2.4. So we can stable gcc-4.1.1 and glibc-2.4
stable on ppc now and let users test when they want. The
2006.1-profile will be considered as testing until release.
Furthermore we want to extend the gcc-upgrade-guide, as we
can't use gcc-4 with glibc-2.3. Therefore the user need to
follow a special upgrade-path.
Another upgrade for 2006.1 might be Xorg-7.1. ppc does not
rely on any binary-driver which is affected by the
ABI-change. This version of X has been tested by several
developers and found to be stable. But we need to check
Donnie's opinion about that move.
A pro-argument would be, that users have to do one big
change with 2006.1 (toolchain, X) and can rest for a long
time. A good upgrade-path for Xorg-7.1 is needed for the
users who won't to install their system newly.
kernel-2.6.17 is another candidate for stable with the
2006.1-release. This gives a lot support for the last
ppc-series of Apples Laptop series and even native WLan with
all AirportExtreme cards, a long-term wish by many ppc
users.
There are some problems with genkernel and mostly the
Pegasos (broken Makefiles due to the ppc32/ppc64->powerpc
move in the kernel), but the result would just be no
initramfs on the install-media (and so no
framebuffer-splashtheme).
Like with 2006.0 we will deliver a minimal and a universal
InstallCD, stages and a GRP-set for ppc-generic and G4.
agaffney is working on a graphical installer CD for
experimental and probably the embedded-team will provide a
netboot-image.
Our current ppc-stable-tree is in a good shape. Only
OpenOffice needs a bump. For other open bugs a bugday like
in the old days, when several team members worked
collaboratively on the open bugs, should be hold in the near
future.
In the end of the meeting we talked about upcoming events in
Central Europe this year where we could meet again.
Suggestions are the Wizard of OS 4 in September in Berlin,
LWE Europe in November in Cologne, or the 23rd Chaos
Communication Congress in December in Berlin.
Regards, Lars
--
Lars Weiler <pylon@gentoo.org> +49-171-1963258
Gentoo Linux PowerPC : Strategical Lead and Release Engineer
Gentoo Infrastructure : CVS Administrator
Gentoo Foundation : Trustee
the Gentoo/PPC team had a meeting from 19UTC until 20:30UTC.
topics:
1) toolchain switch for 2006.1
2) other upgrades for 2006.1
3) open discussion
We decided to make a toolchain-switch for 2006.1 and upgrade
to gcc-4.1.1 along with glibc-2.4. Quite all ppc devs made
tests with that toolchain during the last months and
reported only some slight issues with strict-aliasing. It's
possible to compile (quite) everything without any further
stable-version bumps in the tree.
Every application with strict-aliasing-issues should be
fixed in the ebuild by adding -fno-strict-aliasing to the
CFLAGS. As every arch beside x86 is affected, this does not
need an 'if ppc'. And even on x86 there are no problems
with adding this option. If there are newer versions of
applications in the tree which are fixed by upstream
already, they should be preferred and marked stable. Any
other application should be reported upstream beside the fix
in the ebuild.
We will create a new 2006.1 profile with the new toolchain
as default. The 2006.0 profile will mask >=gcc-4 and
>=glibc-2.4. So we can stable gcc-4.1.1 and glibc-2.4
stable on ppc now and let users test when they want. The
2006.1-profile will be considered as testing until release.
Furthermore we want to extend the gcc-upgrade-guide, as we
can't use gcc-4 with glibc-2.3. Therefore the user need to
follow a special upgrade-path.
Another upgrade for 2006.1 might be Xorg-7.1. ppc does not
rely on any binary-driver which is affected by the
ABI-change. This version of X has been tested by several
developers and found to be stable. But we need to check
Donnie's opinion about that move.
A pro-argument would be, that users have to do one big
change with 2006.1 (toolchain, X) and can rest for a long
time. A good upgrade-path for Xorg-7.1 is needed for the
users who won't to install their system newly.
kernel-2.6.17 is another candidate for stable with the
2006.1-release. This gives a lot support for the last
ppc-series of Apples Laptop series and even native WLan with
all AirportExtreme cards, a long-term wish by many ppc
users.
There are some problems with genkernel and mostly the
Pegasos (broken Makefiles due to the ppc32/ppc64->powerpc
move in the kernel), but the result would just be no
initramfs on the install-media (and so no
framebuffer-splashtheme).
Like with 2006.0 we will deliver a minimal and a universal
InstallCD, stages and a GRP-set for ppc-generic and G4.
agaffney is working on a graphical installer CD for
experimental and probably the embedded-team will provide a
netboot-image.
Our current ppc-stable-tree is in a good shape. Only
OpenOffice needs a bump. For other open bugs a bugday like
in the old days, when several team members worked
collaboratively on the open bugs, should be hold in the near
future.
In the end of the meeting we talked about upcoming events in
Central Europe this year where we could meet again.
Suggestions are the Wizard of OS 4 in September in Berlin,
LWE Europe in November in Cologne, or the 23rd Chaos
Communication Congress in December in Berlin.
Regards, Lars
--
Lars Weiler <pylon@gentoo.org> +49-171-1963258
Gentoo Linux PowerPC : Strategical Lead and Release Engineer
Gentoo Infrastructure : CVS Administrator
Gentoo Foundation : Trustee