Changes in porting based on new freeBSD support model?

[Daniel Sharoh]

Hello,

Sorry if this is question is not supposed to go here. I've been using the
freeBSD PPC port as a desktop since 10.3, which is now EoL. I see freeBSD
follows a new support model, but given the tier 2 status of the PPC port,
it is unclear to me how closely work for PPC tracks fully supported
architectures. Is there conventional wisdom about when upgrading PPC
freeBSD is sensible? It took a good deal of effort to build a working
system on this old iMac G5, and I'm not sure attempting an upgrade is worth
it if the main development target is the newer POWER systems.

Thanks!

[Al]

On Sun, 9 Dec 2018 02:22:25 +0100

Post by Daniel Sharoh
Hello,
Sorry if this is question is not supposed to go here. I've been using
the freeBSD PPC port as a desktop since 10.3, which is now EoL. I see
freeBSD follows a new support model, but given the tier 2 status of
the PPC port, it is unclear to me how closely work for PPC tracks
fully supported architectures. Is there conventional wisdom about
when upgrading PPC freeBSD is sensible? It took a good deal of effort
to build a working system on this old iMac G5, and I'm not sure
attempting an upgrade is worth it if the main development target is
the newer POWER systems.
Thanks!

Hi,
Although our primary new work is targeting the POWER systems, we have
no plans to abandon the Apple PowerMac platforms. Though I no longer
have a working G5 for FreeBSD myself, I make every effort to debug with
those who do, and anything that's shared with the G4 I can test on my
various G4 systems.

...

Hi,

I am glad to hear that you have no plans to abandon the Apple PowerMac
platforms.

If I find that I have a G5 PowerMac that I am not using, would you be
interested in it?

Kind Regards,
Al

[Dennis Clarke]

On Sun, 9 Dec 2018 02:22:25 +0100

Post by Daniel Sharoh
Hello,
Sorry if this is question is not supposed to go here. I've been using
the freeBSD PPC port as a desktop since 10.3, which is now EoL. I see
freeBSD follows a new support model, but given the tier 2 status of
the PPC port, it is unclear to me how closely work for PPC tracks
fully supported architectures. Is there conventional wisdom about
when upgrading PPC freeBSD is sensible? It took a good deal of effort
to build a working system on this old iMac G5, and I'm not sure
attempting an upgrade is worth it if the main development target is
the newer POWER systems.
Thanks!

Hi,
Although our primary new work is targeting the POWER systems, we have
no plans to abandon the Apple PowerMac platforms. Though I no longer
have a working G5 for FreeBSD myself, I make every effort to debug with
those who do, and anything that's shared with the G4 I can test on my
various G4 systems.
- Justin

...

Speaking of which we xertainly do have a few issues after 341655 with
networking and smp but the flat device tree seems to be stable. It may
not be correct but we no longer have a panic.

Dennis Clarke