Re: [gentoo-ppc-dev] Playstation3 port status woes

[Joseph Jezak]

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