[CentOS-devel] CentOS 5 PowerPC port?

Fri May 21 08:24:45 UTC 2010
Timo Schoeler <timo.schoeler at riscworks.net>

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thus Greg Snyder spake:
> Hi all,

Hi Greg,

> I'm trying to get a CentOS 5 port started for PowerPC.  I saw there was
> some email back in February about this, but did not know what progress
> had been made.  Does anyone have any news?  

I think that was my mail... Well, could be, at least. I started to think
of it in December, but didn't make any progress (except adding another
IBM Power 285 machine to the already existing Power 275 I get, see
http://wiki.centos.org/TimoSchoeler).

> I'm most interested in
> 32-bit, with the hope of eventually running it on some Apple (G4 and G5)
> desktops, as well as on some embedded PowerPC boards (mostly amcc 460ex
> based).  So I'd be hoping to build with some pretty generic target
> options so the RPMs would be useful in the most places.

For me it would be the 64bit stuff. I do have a G4 machine at home, but
it isn't set up ATM. Also, I'd really like to have it running on IBM
Power... especially as there *exists* an official upstream port.

> Are there tools, scripts or techniques used to do the x86 RPMs build
> that could be leveraged?  I looked around on the CentOS website and
> wiki, but could not find docs or sources for this.  Any pointers on
> this, or just generally how the x86 build/build server is bootstrapped,
> and the x86 RPMs are produced, would be greatly appreciated.

Same problem here; I asked in IRC yesterday, but noone of the PowerPC
guys was there, as it seemed (if there are any, that is).

> Given my previous somewhat painful experience with autoconf-related
> cross-build issues, my first thought was to build the bulk of the RPMs
> natively on PowerPC, rather than x86 to PowerPC cross-build.  I have a
> few PowerPC boxes (currently running Fedora 12), including a quad core
> 2.5GHz G5, that I'd be happy to share with others interested in getting
> a CentOS PowerPC port done.

I'm very interested in this. However, even more interesting (and very
port-specific) would be the stuff surrounding the topic 'how to create
bootable media'...

Another idea would be to create a wiki page for gathering information on
getting up and running the PPC port. (I'll ask Ralph to create one. :)

> I'd be grateful for any tips, help or direction.
> 
> Thanks,
> Greg

Cheers,

Timo
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