Gentoo Archives: gentoo-alpha

From: Christian Groessler <chris@×××××××××.org>
To: gentoo-alpha@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-alpha] Gentoo/Alpha is without a build machine
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2019 11:45:27
Message-Id: 58417f6f-a835-c884-88e3-d4bc8dc957fc@groessler.org
In Reply to: [gentoo-alpha] Gentoo/Alpha is without a build machine by Matt Turner
1 I could donate/dedicate an ES45.
2
3 regards,
4 chris
5
6 On 9/1/19 11:46 PM, Matt Turner wrote:
7 > Hello,
8 >
9 > Our build and testing machine which was graciously hosted for free for
10 > many years has been decommissioned. I had planned to host an
11 > AlphaServer ES47 and a DS20L at a local university, but the DS20L blew
12 > a capacitor and the ES47 has never been stable enough to warrant using
13 > it for much more than a personal testing machine. I personally have
14 > other machines (UP1500, PC164{,LX,BX,SX}, DP264) but they're not ideal
15 > for building installation media and offering remote build testing
16 > access to multiple developers. I also have 2x 600MHz DS10Ls which
17 > could presumably be hosted at OSUOSL, but again, single CPU 600MHz
18 > systems are pretty useless as a replacement for our quad-CPU ES40.
19 >
20 > Ideally we'd have the DS20L fixed and the ES47 stabilized and then
21 > continue using them. That would require:
22 >
23 > (1) I would be able to replace the capacitors on the DS20L and have it
24 > working again, but I tried and the new ones blew up too, so that's
25 > evidently just a symptom of the problem and not the problem itself.
26 > Electrical engineering advice required if this is to be fixed.
27 >
28 > (2) I would be able to figure out what's causing the ES47 to be
29 > unstable. It seems to lock up under load but I haven't really made
30 > much progress beyond that.
31 >
32 > So we're considering various options. Should we stop alpha support all
33 > together? Should we replace stable alpha keywords with ~alpha? Should
34 > we make the alpha profiles unstable and allow dependency breakage?
35 > Should we try to find another suitable build machine and host it?
36 >
37 > I guess the answer to some of these will depend on how many
38 > Gentoo/alpha users there are. I personally would like to keep alpha
39 > support alive, while reducing the amount of work to keep it going.
40 >
41 > So, do we have users? Do they have opinions? Can they offer help?
42 >
43 > Thanks,
44 > Matt
45 >

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-alpha] Gentoo/Alpha is without a build machine Matt Turner <mattst88@g.o>