Thanks for the response!  I see now.  I think the problem from my
perspective then is that the docs need to be updated a bit, as they
all point to the 'experimental' sections of the mirrors, which only
contain old 970-targeting ps3 stage4's.  I see now that 'releases' has
more generic stage3's suitable for rebuilding specifically for
Cell/BE.

On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 12:04 PM, Joseph Jezak <josejx@g.o> wrote:
> Wes wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I'm wondering, who is the maintainer of the PS3 port?  I have a few
>> issues I'd like to raise.  One being the fact that it's been built
>> targeting entirely the wrong ppc arch.  Several sources I've come
>> across state that the pipelines are so different, that doing this
>> severely hurts performance, and you are in fact better off targeting
>> generic ppc than running 970-targeted binaries on CELL/BE.  Also,
>> newer gcc's are available now which have an mcpu=cell target and it
>> would probably be best to make the playstation3 port..... a
>> playstation3 port!  And not a ps3 / g5 port.  These machines differ so
>> much it is incredibly detrimental to try to support both with the 1
>> port.  Specially when there are better ports existing already for g5.
>>
>> Also, the only available release is still a stage4, that hasn't been
>> updated in a whole year.  While I commend the efforts of the
>> maintainer so far (apart from the 970 target mistake), it would be
>> nice if they actually maintained the port, or handed off to someone
>> more willing if they've grown bored with it.
>>
>> It is my impression that this specific port currently does not follow
>> any Gentoo ideals or philosophy, and is desperately in need of change.
>>
> The PS3 "port" (stage 4) that you're talking about was a test build done
> by one of the PowerPC team developers, Brent Baude, and isn't an
> official release, (as far as I know).
>
> As for a real port, the basic install can be easily done with the
> generic ppc/ppc64 stages that we already make!  Simply install the
> stage3, and recompile the whole system using "emerge world -Duve",
> although you may want to rebuild the system targets first.  There is no
> need for additional stages.  By giving you the ability to install on a
> multitude of targets, while still allowing for optimization and
> configuration, well, that seem like it meets the Gentoo ideals and
> philosophy!
>
> That said, we probably do need to make an updated minimal install CD for
> PS3 if one doesn't already exist.  Unfortunately, the PPC team doesn't
> have a whole lot of man-power at this time, so that will get done as
> soon as someone decides that it needs to be done and has the time to do it.
>
> Again, you can use *any* LiveCD (even other distros!) to boot the
> system, but the current PowerPC stages are adequate to complete a fully
> optimized Gentoo on PS3 install.
>
> Hope that helps,
> -Joe
>
>