ppc buildserver problem

[Joost van der Sluis]

> > the ppc buildsystem fails in compiling fpc. The pre-compiled binary
> > gives a segfault. I asked someone on IRC to try to build the fpc-rpm on
> > a old ppc, and there it works. (He used Debian Unstable, though)
> > 
> > Can someone give me some more information about what kind of powerpc the
> > buildsystem has?
> 
> Not a PowerPC at all :)  It's got a couple of these:
> 
> cpu             : POWER5 (gr)
> clock           : 1655.992000MHz

> If you've got altivec or something like that compiled in, you're hosed.
> What's using a precompiled binary anyway?  That seems wrong, for the
> exact reasons this job failed.

fpc is a compiler. It has to be build (bootstrapped) by itself, or an
older version of itself. So the first time it needs a 'seed' to get it
into the buildsystem. That's why there is a binary.

But according to some other fpc-developers fpc doesn't run on a Power5
machine. Not only for the lack of Altivec (VMX) but also for some other
things. (you also can't compile a version which does)

And the changes that we'll be able to fix that are very slim, since
those machines aren't cheap...

> In any case, this is an interesting topic, since the build machines,
> while blazingly fast, don't support Altivec, which most Fedora PPC users
> have.  I'm not sure how to even differentiate between those jobs needing
> Altivec (so they might go to a capable machine) and those jobs not
> requiring it (so they could go to the POWER5).

Well, fpc _does_ run on powerpc, but not on power. How should I handle
this?

Regards,
  Joost.